Down the Rabbit hole
by Alis Volat Propris
Summary: To save Neji's life, Ino must use her advanced clan jutsu to enter his mind and pull him out of his coma.But Ino is in deeper water than she can possibly swim. How can she save Neji in his own mind when she can't save herself?
1. Chapter 1

AN: Recently lost my best friend in the world. Kind of needed something to distract myself. All my other fics are on Hiatus until I'm motivated or inspired to change that status. Sorry friends.

"Enter into his mind, Ino" Tsunade ordered as she looked upon the unconcious Hyuuga. It was a hard decision but Tsunade had faced harder decisions and right now she wasn't about to let her top anbu captain waste away. It was this option or nothing and Tsunade was a fighter. Give her a weapon and she would take those down with her. She couldn't sit and do nothing any longer.

"Do they know what you're telling me to do? You can't convince me the Hyuuga are okay with your decision. I could seriously damage his memory. He could come out as a vegetable just as easily as he could his usual hard ass self." Ino snapped, hands on her hips. Hazel eyes snapped up, brows furrowed as she glared at the tall lanky blonde.

"Should I put you down for insubordination now or later?" She asked, eyes piercing.

"Hokage sama, we've been through this." Ino replied as she pushed her hair behind her.

"I don't care about the consequences, Ino. He'll die if you don't. I gave you an order. Do it, Yamanaka" Tsunade ordered.

"Even if I can get into his mind,which I'm fairly sure I cant, it doesn't mean he's going to wake up from his coma. I can't make him live, Tsunade. Hell I've never been in a coma patient before." Ino replied.

"I am not going to loose an anbu captain because I didn't try." Tsunade replied firmly.

"But you'll risk a jounin to do it. This is dangerous, Hokage sama. Just because I'm making progress on my clans abilities doesn't mean this will work. What if I get caught up in his coma too?" Ino snapped, blonde eyebrows rising in concern.

"We both know you're too stubborn to let that happen" Tsunade replied firmly.

Ino glowered. "As long as you didn't bet on it, right Tsunade hag?" Ino muttered.

"I know the risks. We need him. Gai needs him since the loss of Ten Ten and Lee- I figured you would understand that with Shikamaru's death-"

"Enough. I'll do it." Ino replied, cerulean blue dimmed by her grief. First Asuma, then Chouji and now Shikamaru. It had been a rough past few years. Yes she could understand how Gai felt.

"I'll leave you alone to it then." Tsunade said, pulling out a gourd and taking a swig. "For what it's worth, Goodluck"

"Thanks." Ino replied, pulling up a chair, and taking Hyuuga Neji's hand. It was so cold, his palor and demeanor was pale, clammy as she intertwined her hand in his.

"Neji, if you can hear me... I'm coming in" Ino whispered, closing her eyes and concentrating on her jutsu.

…...............................

Ino was hurtled to the floor. A plain white floor. A plain white floor with nothing else but blurry fog. What did that say about his brain? Ugh, she winced.

"Ouch. Ugh...fucking shit...that hurt" She complained as she got to her feet. And promptly glanced down at what she was wearing, or rather lacking. Lacking was definitely the appropriate word as she realized her attire.

Bright red lingerie, revealed the smooth planes of her toned stomach, with matching garter belt and attatchments. She wore stilleto high heels, the lingerie and nothing else. Normally when Ino entered someones mind, she was in charge, but she could feel her chakra control fluctuating. What the hell was going on? Why was she dressed like this? Ino tried to break the jutsu and felt the terrifying edge of fear ripple through her. It wasn't breaking. She closed her eyes, and tried again pushing her chakra to feel the resistance. It snapped, crackled and burned her and she returned to the white room. Damn it that stung! Ino closed her eyes and concentrated. Again. And again. The pain grew worse. Ino felt sick as her mind spun, her lungs burning with the exertion. She couldn't get out. Fuck! She heard something behind her and turned, grabbing her kunai kunoichi instincts kicking it.

"Oh. You" Neji said taking a look at her appearance.

He looked at her with cheap interest, and a funny almost lecherous smile but the edges were drooping. Ino had never seen Neji like...like this before. If it wasn't for his features she wouldn't even recognize him. She felt the heat rising to her cheeks, something that hadn't happened since middle school and a name that started with an S and rhymed with an Asuke and was never to be mentioned in her presence again .Ino crossed her arms over her chest, stomping her stilleto-ed foot as she glared. He caught himself, appeared to have realized himself and he looked into his hands. He had caught her kunai and he tossed it back to her as he turned from her. Ino caught it and eyed him.

".. This?" She asked. Her hair was curled and hanging down and in her face. When she looked down she was now wearing midnight blue lingerie with a sheer teddy over it. Ino gasped.

"Its my world, Yamanaka. You're just in it for the moment." Neji replied. The white room darkened to a brown shade. Lights hung from the ceiling in the brick room. Chairs, tables lined the floor. This was the bar at Konoha. Neji never went to the bar.

"How is this possible? You have no mind jutsu skill whatsoever. And why the hell am I in lingerie?" Ino scowled.

"Because you look better this way. Now if only I could control that mouth." Neji sighed.

Ino balked. "W-what?! Who the hell are you and what have you done with Hyuuga Neji?" Ino snarled, grabbing his shirt. Her fingers slid through the material as Neji's eyes narrowed.

A drink materialized in front of Neji and he took a swallow as he looked her up and down. She now wore hot pink lingerie, a corset with her hair up to be exact."You're in my mind, Ino. And I'm Neji. Just not the Neji you see on the outside." He said as he swallowed the liqour whole. Another full drink materialized and he took that too.

"What's that supposed to be mean?" Ino replied, walking to the stool and having a seat next to him. This didn't make any sense but Ino couldn't get out of his mind for whatever reason and this was...Neji...atleast from the looks of it.

"It's simple. I'm the sexually repressed completely bitter Neji." He replied.

"T-he what?" Ino spluttered.

"The Neji you see is not the Neji you think you know." Neji replied.

"Don't treat me like I'm five. I'm a mind walker." Ino growled. "I know the repressed mind. Where the hell is the rest of you?" Ino snapped, jabbing a finger into his chest.

"Funny. You don't know repression when you see it." Neji replied as he downed another glass. Ino felt the wind and looked down to see herself in black skimpy lingerie. Red with embarrasment she concentrated and felt the black trench coat settle on her.

"Spoil all my fun why don't you?" Neji muttered as he took another drink.

Ino's eyes narrowed. "What is this? I have some control, apparently. But I can't get out? If you know everything then you better start giving me some fucking answers, Hyuuga. Why am I stuck here? Where's the _real _Neji? What's going on?" Ino snapped.

"Neji is me. I am Neji. You're here because he's not letting you leave yet, because in some sick twisted sense of the word he actually thinks _you_ can somehow help him through this and you're going to have to meet up with several other Neji's to get to him or what you think of as the "real" him. So you should probably prepare yourself...or something. Not like I give a shit" Neji told her, taking another drink.

"W-what?" Ino scowled. "What do you mean by several Neji's?" Ino felt something pulling her. "Ow- this hurts-Nejiii!" Ino cried as the room disappeared from view.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: This is part of my self help to myself to deal with the issues in my life. If you reap the benefits of it then awesome. If not, meh then get over it and stop reading. I dont know where this plot bunny came from but it's here and I'm running with it while it's still here.

Ino landed, in a arena. Blinking she looked around her. She wore her old chuunin outfit, bandages binding her stomach as she let the dust settle. The field was exactly the same as when Neji had fought Naruto. Ino took in the sight, feeling the holes in the field, eying the kunai stuck in the walls and the damage. Where was Neji?

"Stupid." a comment from the left. Ino tilted her head. A chuunin exams Neji stood resplendent in his own chuunin exam.

"What?" Ino asked as she stood up. She was still herself, older, taller.

"You are. You have no business being here" He told her simply.

Ino eyes narrowed. Great she was now having to deal with teenage punk Neji? Ugh, Ino wasn't being paid enough for this shit. The bitter sexually repressed Neji had told her she was going to encounter many different aspects of Neji on this fucked up mental journey. Atleast she was getting the rough ones out of the way first. Gods where the hell was Neji? Normally Ino could plot the path on this journey

"Which means what?" Ino replied.

"That you're not welcome here" He replied, walking back to the place where he had performed the juuken. He took up the stance, veins around his eyes puffing up as he summoned his clan's birthright and bloodline limit. The Pearlescent eyes flared as the Byakugan surged to life.

"That can't be true" Ino replied.

"Oh?" He said, turning.

"You heard me." Ino replied. "I wouldn't be here if you..or at least a part of you didn't want me here."

Neji smirked, that evil smile she had seen on him before when he had hurt Hinata so badly that day. "Maybe I want you to go down with me." He replied, as he began to run through the moves.

"Thats not true either." Ino replied, as she sat down on the grass.

"Really?" Neji replied sarcastically.

"Really." Ino replied back with a self satisfying smirk. "And why is that?" Neji asked as he leapt and threw kunai, training.

"Because I would be dead if you wished it. I couldn't have entered your mind and stayed here without your permission Neji. There's a part of you that's asking for help. I just don't understand your world yet."

"And you think that by parading in here, and acting like a savior, you're going to somehow save me? Chee, I think I'll take my chances alone." Neji told her.

Ino glared at the child. "Ugh. Hormones are such a bitch sometimes..." Ino groaned as she looked on the transitioning child in front of her.

"You're annoying and obviously useless. Go away." Neji told her as he executed a kata, taking out a tree in the process. Ino's eye twitched.

"No! You brought me here and you're keeping me here against my will. Now you're either going to let me pass so I can figure out where the hell the real Neji is, or I'm going to annoy you till we both die on the outside of your fucked up brain." Inon screached.

"How very mature of you. Like I said it's no skin off my back if we die." Neji replied.

Ino groaned. "Ugh. Why are you acting like a spoiled brat, Neji?!" Ino growled.

"This is my destiny, okay?" Neji snapped, tone angry and spiteful.

"No it's not okay? Okay?! You're gonna drag me down with you now and you think thats a good excuse for you to just roll over and give up? Yeah right!" Ino snapped.

"Please....just leave" Neji replied forlornly.

"Your destiny? That's right. You talked about this during the chuunin exams. How you're cursed to some crappy fate because of what happens to the Branch members of your clan" Ino said as she sifted through her own memories of that day and what was spoken.

"Don't act like you know me!" Neji snapped.

"Hyuuga Neji, branch member and kid prodigy of the Hyuuga clan. Became a jounin and later an anbu captain specializes in the Byakugan style gentle fist. You are always reserved because you don't know how to present yourself to people. You feel rejected and right now in your life your anger is how you are dealing with that rejection. You love your teammates, but you don't know how to tell them that because you still haven't forgiven yourself for how you treated them in the past, for who you were in the past and so you're trying to make it up to them by your actions which speak louder than words in your opinion anyways. I know more about you than you think."

"Do you know what the seal means?" Neji snarled, angry and lashing out at her with words as she had never seen him before.

"It means that they control everything I do. It means that if I get out of line, if I so much as make a comment, they will kill me. The seal will only disappear once I'm dead. It will eat my mind! Or whats left of it anyways. Even if I live outside of my mind I will never escape the curse of my family. And good riddance! Its my fate to die, as was my fathers"

"Your father died a hero, a savior. If you die now, you will die in shame and dishonor, a coward who couldn't even fight" Ino replied.

"So how will that be different then where I am now?" Neji snapped, but the hurt undertone in his voice could not be mistaken. Neji wasn't the only one with observation skills. Ino had learned how to read people long before and it was obvious that the angry youth in front of her had issues. She had never seen Neji like this and Ino was moved by compassion for his anger, an anger she could relate to.

"Because you represent the Hyuuga Branch members. If you roll over and die you will only fulfill their expectations of you. If you stay in the cage they made for you, you will never show them, prove to them that you can fly with your own wings, with your own strength." Ino replied, cerulean blue eyes shinning.

She bent down to Neji, who flinched as she laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't fight it" Ino replied.

Neji merely sneered and tried to get out of her reach. He couldn't fight her off. Ino smiled and ruffled his hair, making Neji only angrier as he fought her hold.

"Let me go!" Neji stuggled. "No" Ino replied, and kissed his forehead protector. Neji froze.

"You..."Neji began to turn red.

"Yup." She grinned like a cat. "Just kissed your forehead, kiddo. Right smack on the spot they burned into your forehead. I'm making up for your lost time"

Neji suddenly became shy, withdrawn. "I...I hate them for what they did....but they're my family. They are all I have left of my father."

"Thats not true" Ino replied.

Neji looked up with startled eyes. It was obvious he didn't understand. Ino sighed.

"You are what is left of your father." Ino told him as she looked at him. Neji regarded her with wide eyes which meant that what she was saying was making sense, connecting and getting through his shield of arrogance.

"He will always be a part of you, a part of your D.N.A. You carry something from him that can never be taken away from you. No one can steal your genes, so your father is always with you, can never be taken from you." Ino replied.

Neji took in the words, eying her carefully. He was looking to see if she believed what she said.

"Don't hate the main family, Neji. Show them what you can do with your abilities. If you give up now you're no better than they are. Can't you see that?" Ino asked.

Neji made no reply, the small boy appearing to weigh her words, considering them.

"You have to get up from this, Neji." Ino told him, the words coming from her own heart.

The boy was just so angry, and she remembered how that felt. She was shocked at these past variations of Neji. She had never seen him in these lights before.

"Hmm.." Neji said, as he looked thoughtful, the angry lines of hate fading from his eyes as the Byakugan faded leaving his beautiful pearlescent eyes.

"What?" Ino replied, seeing his look. "Penny for your thoughts" She told him with a grin and a wink.

"Maybe you can help after all." He said, as he looked around at the arena. "But you've got a long way to go before you can get confident that you'll win." Neji told her.

"How do I move on?" Ino asked, eying the birds that escaped from the trees. Neji caught her view and smirked.

Neji pointed to the hole in the field left from Shikamaru's battle with Temari. "Down there" He said.

Ino gulped. "Down?" as she eyed the black pit before her.

Neji nodded. "You have to go down before you can get up" He said with an arrogant smile. "If you can make it, you might have a chance. But don't be too sure." He said with a wave as he went back to his training.

"Thanks twerp. I think..." She said as she eyed the ground. She turned about to ask if there was another way when she felt a shadow on her ankle. Periwinkle blue widened in fright. Shikamaru's Kagemane no jutsu? Ino was dragged into the hole, screaming Neji's name as she fell into darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Chapter three and I'm on a role. This isn't meant to be a very long story but who knows where the plot bunnies lead? I am merely a play toy in the muse's playground of writing.

Ino felt, hitting things with her back. She screamed in agony, as she fell through another stage of darkness. She could feel the wetness on her back, the absolute agony. It felt like every limb was on fire, that she'd broken every bone in her body, torn every tendon. But even as her screams dried and her tears dried from her eyes due to the flight and started again she continued to fall, and to crash into each level of darkness. She hit the floor with a harsh thump, lying on her side as she felt the blood from her body, her wounds leaking her precious life fluid.

"Neji...you bastard. I can't help you if you kill me..." Ino strangled out.

_You wont die. _

"Then what the hell was.... that?"Ino wrasped, coughing blood.

_A test._

"A test?" She choked. "A test for what, you moron! I could have died and then we'd both be fucked. Gods you can't see that I'm trying to help you? Ugh.." She snapped, trying to lift herself up on trembling elbows and falling. She lay her head down, on what felt like mud, dank squishy mud.

Then she felt her wounds close up. They still stung like a bitch but they were closed. Ino tried to get up again and yowled. Her arm. Her arm was broken.

"What the hell is this Neji?" Ino cried, and then she realized she was in a dark forest. She felt them before she could see them. The rain drops fell, and then began to pour down from the canopy of the dark forest. Green and blue mixed and Ino felt her teeth chattering. It was cold and muddy and she had no idea where she was on this mental journey.

_I could die here. _The thought really struck Ino with force as she took a sharp breath clutching her arm as she felt the tingling pain. Ino tried to access her chakra with no avail. She couldn't use her chakra. Feeling cold and more alone than she ever had in her life, Ino stumbled through the muck and the mud.

What felt like days later she stumbled out of the forest. But all she could see for miles around her was desert. She set foot in the sand and she sunk to mid calf. Groaning, Ino took another step. She sunk again to the same level, her ninja sandles scrunching with sand.

Ino made her way through the desert, at first grateful for the sun until the heat began to burn, to blister her lips. She was sunburned, her own sweat stinging against her skin. She was dehydrated and suddenly she wished for the rain and the mud, though she knew she had passed through it because the mud was dry and flaking on her clothing. Ino tried to lick her lips but they stung. Her throat burned with ache. She could feel the cress in her mouth, her cotton mouth badly in need of nourishing water. But there wasn't even cactus in this desert. Only her, and the sand dunes and the unbearable heat. Ino could feel herself hallucinating, seeing the rookie nine, sometimes Asuma and Kurenai, sometimes her father. It was when Shikamaru showed up that Ino had had just about enough.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She demanded as she stumbled.

"Mendokusai..." She heard him echo as he shook his head.

"You're dead." She told him plainly. She knew a hallucination when she saw one. Shikamaru disappeared like one of his shadows and that was the last hallucination she saw. Ino travelled as the sun made it's way, burning a path down the sky. It was nearly sunset. Ino took a trembling step and fell over, eyes closing in defeat. She had traveled through the dark forest and the desert and now she could go no further.

She felt the cold water splashing her face before she registered it on her lips. Eyes alert, snapping to attention she spluttered, choking on the water before she let out a yowl of pain, her arm still broken.

"That looks bad" a deep man's voice said.

Ino turned, pulling out her kunai with her good arm as she took a good look at the person who had poured water on her.

The man had a tattered brown cloak on, and a straw hat that looked suspiciously like Akatsuki. The man took off his hat, and Ino's eyes widened. The man looked like Gai sensei, only with hair in a low ponytail and a cross shaped scar on his cheek.

"Gai..." The words flew from her mouth without meaning to.

The man shook his head sadly, and handed her the gourd. The sky crackled and darkened. Ino drank the bottle, her blistered lips healing from them. She eyed the man startled. He smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

"I don't suppose you could tell me how much further it is?" Ino asked.

The man pointed ahead. Ino could see a town from over the hill. Ino was astonished. That hadn't been there before she had passed out. She poured the water all over her, her wounds closing, her sunburn healing. It didn't however, heal her arm. Ino grimaced.

The man gave a sympathetic nod.

"Hey...Thanks for everything else." She said.

The man nodded, and began to trudge the other way from where she had come. Ino sighed and shook her head. If the water healed her....Ino began to concentrate. She poured the entirety of her focus into healing her arm with her chakra. Suddenly she could access it. She could feel small parts of her chakra come to her. She poured that small amount into her arm and felt the bones begin to knit back together. Ino felt the sweat break on her forehead and she pushed through the pain with renewed effort. Her arm healed.

"Ha.." She gasped. "Take that, Neji. Your mind won't stop a Yamanaka for long!" She laughed.

Lightning struck the sand, hard and fast. Ino jumped, tumbling out of the way as the spot she had been standing in was now covered in a burning glass. Ino was running for her life from the lightning that seemed to strike just a second too late. Blue eyes glinted like steel, determined to make it to the village ahead. She reached the gates, taking shelter beneath the awnings as she rested, catching her breathe. She made her way inside the village that looked suspiciously like the the Konoha of her childhood. She felt the rain again and Ino wished that she had a rain coat or at least an umbrella.

She looked down. Her toes were now covered in galoshes and in her hand was an umbrella. With a grin she made her way down the road. If Neji was anywhere he would be at the Hyuuga residence.

"Hello?" Ino called. The Hyuuga household was empty, in fact the entire village had been empty as she made her way in. She could hear the sounds of crying and Ino made her way further in, following the heart breaking sounds.

A tiny long haired child sat, bandages wrapped around his forehead as fat tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Neji?" Ino asked.

"Who are you?" The small child asked, fear in his voice. "I-I thought I was alone" He stammered as he scrubbed his eyes with his hands.

Neji couldn't have been more than four years old. He was tiny and adorable. His pearlescent eyes were still wet with unshed tears and his eyes were red and puffy around the edges. Even if the petulant child wanted to hide his emotions his body was betraying him. The boy trembled even as he held his stare and his ground.

Ino took a deep shaky breathe. She'd never been good with children.

"Neji kun. You don't recognize me?"

The child shook his head firmly, hands up.

"I'm Yamanaka Ino. But you can call me Ino" She said extending her hand.

Neji summoned the byakugan and tried to shut down the tenketsu on her arm. Ino yelped and stepped back, reaching for her kunai but realizing what she was doing half way through the movement and dropping her arm limply. Pulling out her kunai would prove she was an enemy and would frighten the child...Neji, more. Ino swallowed a growl of frustration as she ran her hands through her hair.

"Neji. I know you don't believe me, you don't even know me, but I'm a friend. I live in Konoha." Ino told him trying to keep her tone gentle. She smiled brightly.

"You're a stranger. I was told to never trust strangers."

"Your village people aren't strangers, sweety. Technically we are neighbors." Ino replied sticking her tongue out.

Neji heisitated. It was clear the boy was scared, but she could tell that he wanted to trust her.

"I promise you Neji I won't hurt you. I just want to know why you were crying."

At the mention of the subject the boys eyes grew moist again and he choked, a sob escaping him. He sunk to his knees, tears falling down his face.

"My Tou-san is dead." He wailed. Ino felt her heart constrict painfully. Neji had lost his father if she remembered to cloud nin in exchange for the treaty that had been signed under sandaime.

"Neji kun..." Ino said, at a loss for words. The boy only curled up on the floor sobbing as he beat his fists into the tatami mats.

"Neji kun, honey you're gonna hurt yourself like that..." Ino said drawing closer, but too late. The boy snagged his hand on the mat, it dragging across the rough surface and he got scratched by the rough mats. He began to wail in earnest, overwhelmed by his pain, both physical and emotional.

"Neji! Neji" Ino cried trying to get his attention, by being louder, but his crying only grew more pronounced until it filled the very house. Ino's ears thrummed in pain and her own instincts of trying to make him stop crying overwhelmed her. She reached out and grabbed him into her arms, hugging and rocking him.

The startled child tried to fight her hold, squirming as he cried in alarm, but Ino didn't let go, though she earned some scratches and some painful tenketsu bruises. Neji continued to fight but it was clear that he was running out of energy. He grew limp in her arms, hiccuping, red with rage of being held against his will.

"Neji kun.." Ino said, tears in her own eyes from her frustration at not being able to console him, of him hurting himself, of her lack of ability to deal with him properly. Maybe this was how new moms felt.

"I know your angry, and hurting. Losing your daddy is...hard" Ino choked on the word. The pain of her own father's passing hit her like a ton of bricks. She swallowed her tears forcing a smile. "But we can't keep crying, you know?"

Neji heisitated. "I...I don't believe you." He stammered, Byakugan puffy, around his already red and puffy pearlescent eyes.

"I have to cry or it hurts inside. Why did Tou-san leave me?" Neji demanded, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Tou-san would never willingly leave you." Ino told him, stroking his hair softly.

"You don't know! I heard him!..." Neji gulped, gasping for breathe. "Tou-san didn't love me"

Ino was startled by the revelation. Neji had never talked about his father like this. Ino didn't know enough about his father to really be telling him that. Ugh she hated little children for this exact reason.

"it's true" He choked, snot running down his nose. "Tou-san was always mad at Aniki, at the main house." He stammered.

Ino ripped some of the extra material off of her skirt, and pulled Neji close, wiping the snot dripping from his nose and the tears that had streaked his cheeks. The boy didn't fight her anymore. He clutched the left over extra material to her skirt, and wrapped his other chubby arm around her waist, resting his head against her breast as he cried. Ino was startled by his open display of affection, but sighed, resting her head on his own tenderly and stroking his back and his long chocolate brown hair.

"Why did Tou-san die?" Neji murmured, sucking his thumb. Ino grinned. Neji had been a thumbsucker when he was little.

"I don't know." Ino replied. "Did you know that my Tou-san died too?"

"Really?" Neji's eyes were wide with trust. "What happened?" He asked as he sat up on her lap, though his chubby hands stayed wrapped firmly in her skirt as if she could slip away from him if he wasn't holding on.

Ino could have laughed. The boy was so smart and mature, though why she was surprised she wondered. He waited patiently expecting an answer.

"My Tou-san was on a mission that went badly. He was betrayed by some very bad men." Ino replied.

Neji's eyes softened, and she saw the tears. "Mine too" He replied.

Ino hugged him close as he cried, feeling tears in her own eyes.

"Ne, Neji kun, we need to get our spirits up. Too much rain can kill the flowers, as my mother used to say" Ino said, drying her tears and his own.

"Too much rain?" Neji repeated.

"Aah." Ino replied. "We need to think of happy things"

"Like what?" Neji replied forlornly.

"Like sunshine. Like hugs....like tickling matches!" Ino cried as she began to tickle the four year old.

Neji started off being indignant but began to giggle as Ino made ridiculous noises as she tickled, and Neji took off down the hall. Ino leapt to her feet hot on his trail as he took off around the corner. The corner disappeared as she ran, and she felt the tugging sensation. It hurt, burned all over as she cried out.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: and on and on the plot bunny goes where it stops, nobody knows...Machi tan thanks for reviewing! It makes me write more because this is probably going to be one of those stories I finish tonight or die trying to. I have to write while the plot bunnies have me so please keep reviewing and I will press on with the chapters.

Ino felt herself hit the water before she actually did, headfirst. She wasn't sure whether she was going down or floating up but it didn't matter because the fall had taken the air from her, had knocked it right out. Ino was in trouble, disoriented in the water and out of air. Kicking as she swirled, and twirled in the water, fighting for balance and stability, she felt something grab her. She panicking, fighting the hold, but the hand pulled her up anyways and Ino coughed, spitting out water she was already swallowing in desperation and sucking in air for dear life. Bleary water logged eyes looked up into the familiar Hyuuga prodigy.

"You alright?" Dreamy pearlescent eyes looked worriedly into her own.

This was older jounin Neji, the Neji that had been defeated by Naruto and grown from that experience. The Neji who was still kind. Ino couldn't have been more grateful. She clung to him as she trembled from the fall. They were on a lake, in familiar territory, Neji standing on the top of the lake as he helped her shakily to her feet. She leaned against him, his arms still wrapped tenderly around her as he helped support her tall lean frame. He smelled like pine and cedar and the musky yet alluring scent of the outdoors. Pearlescent eyes looked deeply into her periwinkle blue.

"You alright?" He asked again.

"Peachy-" Ino coughed nearly choking "Keen." She spat.

Neji smiled sadly at her. "Can you use your chakra yet?" He asked, pearlescent eyes kind as she began to stand.

Ino shook her head. "Not quite. I'm getting more control, no thanks to you and your random brain spawn." She glared. He merely chuckled in reply.

"Aah. Well this is a good spot to rest for a while." Neji told her as he built a thin layer of chakra between him and the water and then sat down in a meditative pose.

There were two circles of chakra. Ino smiled, inwardly touched by the gesture, and sat down. She didn't sense any malicious chakra intent and the Neji's before her had been very bold in their personalities. Her clothes that were mud caked were now soaked with water, but the purple was fading and her clothing had been through some beatings, ripped areas and holes. She shivered but she felt the sunlight break through the clouds, warming her some. Ino smiled her gratitude and Neji just gave a quiet nod.

"You can manipulate chakra outside of your hand into a layer?" Ino asked.

"It helps that I can see it" Neji replied with a smile, pointing to the puffy lines adorning his proud but handsome face. Neji was handsome. How had Ino missed it before now? Because she had been so distracted by the past, by her team and her responsibilities. _Starts with a S and rhymes with an asuke.... In fact most of her distraction problems started with an S..._

Ino smirked. "I suppose so" She replied trying to find a comfortable position on her circle. Neji sighed and the circle began to stretch and change.

"Lay down if you want to." He told her, eyes closed, his face a mask of concentration.

"You seem more like yourself, here." Ino commented as she stretched out across the water pleased by this version of Neji. This version of Neji was at peace with the world, quiet but kind. He kind of reminded her of a good mix of Shikamaru and he who would not be mentioned though even thinking of the shadow user was painful. Remorse ate at Ino's resolve. It was so peaceful here. Everything about being here invited her in, made her want to relax and hang out. That was exactly why she couldn't.

"Do I?" He commented, a pearlescent eye pearing open at the blonde.

"Mmn." Ino replied staring up at the clouds. Briefly she thought of Shikamaru again and her hallucinations and then scowled. The last person she wanted to think of was him, was them.

"You look troubled." He told her, eyes closed again as his hands folded into his lap.

"I am troubled. I'm trapped in your mind meeting all of the bits and pieces of yourself and not all of them have been the easiest people in the world to deal with. And I have yet to meet the deadly dangerous kinds of you. I'd say I'm in a shit load of trouble. So which one are you, or have I reached my destination already?" Ino retorted, putting her hands behind her head and crossing her foot over her knee.

Neji smiled politely. "I want to say that your journey is over..." Neji told her.

"But you can't. I get it. I appreciate the gesture" Ino replied with a smile.

"I suppose you could say I'm the peaceful, zen like one." He replied. "In a way, anyways."

"a.k.a. The apathetic one then, right? All you want to do is meditate and study nature in the forest?" Ino replied as she gazed at the area they were in. They were somewhere high in the mountains of fire country, away from the troubles of the village and ninja. Neji was alone here or so it seemed, as there was no chakra signature for miles.

"Part of the art of Taijutsu is learning to become one with nature, one with the universe." Neji replied. "Or so Gai sensei says."

"Gai sensei is a nut job of a jounin with creepy bushy eyebrows, blinding white teeth and that hideous green jumpsuit." Ino replied with an eyeroll.

"You have an interesting way of putting things" Neji replied with a half grin, as his circle combined with hers and he delicately placed a hand over her shoulder. "Just close your eyes and listen" He told her, eyes beaming down at her.

Ino's eyebrow arched. "You sure your not cute, but betraying Neji instead?" She quipped.

Neji simply smiled his eyes alighting at the cute part. "I promise on the dead soul of my father you will not come to harm from me or this place in my mind while I am here and you are here" Neji vowed solemnly. Ino knew from that, that he was okay.

Ino nodded, and closed her eyes. It was amazing, it was like her sense of hearing increased though that was probably Neji's doing too. It was his world, she supposed with a huff. Creatures of the forest created a symphony around them, the life beautiful as birds flew overheard shouting their jubilant song for all to hear. Deer traversed through the area, eying the humans and then taking off, bounding through the lush forest.

"Isn't it peaceful?" Neji replied, content as he stared around him, his arms enfolding her. Ino liked his nearness, his warmth. The way his strong arms wrapped around her comfortably. That was the problem.

"Yeah, all you need is a waterfall, a toilet and a teepee and your set for life" Ino replied with sarcasm. "So when do we talk about the next step?" She asked him. "Oh and you can take your arms from around me"

Neji sighed again. "Again, you have an interesting way of putting it. I don't think I ever noticed that about you before. I always knew you were-"

"Loud?" Ino supplied.

"Observant. But you have a way with words too." Neji replied.

"No, I'm just good at reading people. I'm also good at knowing when people are avoiding my questions" Ino replied with a shrug as she yawned.

Neji sighed and took a deep cleansing breathe. "Was that to rid you of the bad karma of my presence?" Ino asked teasingly.

"I don't suppose I'll do much meditating with you around, will I?" Neji retorted, only slightly displeased, but still pleasant. It almost made Ino roll over, laughing, but if she rolled she'd end up back in the lake and there was something funny about the water that made her reluctant to get in it again.

"Sorry. I'm not the roll over and play dead type." Ino replied with a shrug.

"I would never suggest that of you, or your personality." Neji replied.

"No, you're too cultured and refined and 'at one with the universe' to suggest that" Ino said with a laugh.

Neji smiled. "I know you want to move on. But would it really be so bad to just sit here for a while? It's only going to get harder, you know. This is a very peaceful way to spend the rest of your life. It's how I've chosen to spend mine. " Neji said, as he closed his eyes again.

Ino took a deep sigh as she stared at the clouds.

"No, it wouldn't be so bad to just sit here." She replied.

"You would finally have time to sort out your feelings. You couldn't hide your own issues while you were dealing with my childhood, you know?" Neji said with a smile.

"You heard that?" Ino asked, turning pink.

"I am Neji too, you know. And really Neji is me as well, or at least a part of me." Neji replied.

"I know, I just...er...didn't realize that you were all so...so closely tied together." Realization struck her. "Then why the hell are you so spread out all over the place?" Ino demanded as her tone grew bossy.

"Neji is a very reserved person. He deals with his life in, what you would call fractions. I think if you do succeed, you'll have experienced nearly all of the aspects of Neji's life."

"Nearly? What's that supposed to mean." Ino demanded, hands on her hips

Neji sighed again, lifting his hands in surrender. "There are things about me, err..about Neji, that you don't know, Yamanaka Ino. That no person should ever have to know." Neji replied sadly.

"Like what?" Ino asked.

"Thinking about it gives me bad karma" Neji replied teasingly, grabbing a lock of her ponytail and smelling it with a content sigh.

Ino smiled. "Everyone has darker aspects about them. There are things in my life I'd never want you to know about. But then there's no more secrets." She replied.

"Ever the optimist" Neji commented.

"If I get out of this alive Neji...you can count on me to never talk about what I've seen here. I'm not the town gossip I used to be any more. I promise you that." Ino promised.

"Ino...you probably will be going forward into some pretty dark and scary places in my soul" Neji warned her. "Are you sure about this? I'm concerned about your safety."

`"Soul?" Ino questioned.

"Metaphorically speaking. That whole mind body spirit connection." He said with a grin.

"And?" Ino replied.

"And I can see that no words of mine are going to stop you. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to distract you from your mission. Can I say one more thing?" Neji asked.

Ino nodded.

"You wont hear this from the others probably unless something major shifts in the balance of the universe. So... Thank you." He told her, rising as he took her hand and kissed it.

"For what?" Ino asked, feeling the blush rise to her cheeks.

"For caring. For trying. For risking your life for me" Neji told her, almost shyly.

"You're so apathetic that you don't even see how you're a part of this whole vast universe. And the funny story is that it's a part of you."Ino replied with a laugh, her eyes beaming.

"How very Zen of you, Ino." Neji replied. He intertwined her hand in his.

"N-neji" Ino stammered, gods she felt like she was twelve all over again, the nervous tingly butterflies in her stomach messing with her brain.

"If things were different-" Neji began.

"And if I wasn't invading your mind and you weren't a monk sworn to the universe-" Ino retorted with a grin.

"I would kiss you." He told her. "I think.... it would be easy to kiss you."Neji replied.

"You know next to nothing about me Hyuuga Neji." Ino rebuked, trying to pull her hand back.

"What was it you said, in the beginning? I know more than you think. I am Neji and Neji is me. I've seen you, Yamanaka Ino through out your journey to find me. I've seen your kindness, your determination. I've experienced your hardship and frustrations as if they were my own and in a sense they have been. My mind is as for you as it is against you. The one thing about you being in my mind is that you as well become connected to me. Close to me" Neji replied as he leaned closer.

Ino flushed. "C-can you read my thoughts?" She asked, heisitating.

Neji smiled and shook his head. "You still have your head and your will. And you will still need to regain your chakra to be able to deal with the challenges that lay ahead. But for now..."

"For now?" Ino asked, nearly hanging on his next word. It would be easy to kiss him. To love him. To fit in this peaceful world of his. Those pearlescent eyes reflected herself, and she could see his feelings for her, feel them in the wind as it blew flowers and leaves around them.

"It couldn't get cornier than this" She remarked with a smirk.

"Yes, but I though you_ liked _corny, remember?" Neji asked as he pulled her to him and kissed her.

She felt the taste of his lips, the press of his hard, handsome body against her own and the feel of his arms wrapping around hers, never to let her go. And she knew her will. She knew her resolve wouldn't crumble. She would save him, damn it and in doing so save herself! And she felt the pull of his mind. _No! _She screamed inwardly._ I'm not ready yet!_


	5. Chapter 5

AN: I dont know what to say. It just keeps coming. Different aspects of Neji are coming out. I'm kind of rereading every part of Neji's role in the comics. Hope you enjoy.

Ino landed deftly straight on her ass in the middle of a fucking ambush by enemy nin. Sound nin from the looks of their forehead protectors. And they were out for blood now that they'd realized she was here. She leapt to her feet, launching forward and slashing the first within reach with her kunai, killing him. She used his body as a shield, darting into the bushes and stealing his swords. She sent the enemies ninja stars flying back at them as she launched kunai, killing another two. She beheaded the fourth and fifth with one clean slice, and leapt up and over their headless corpses to avoid being harpooned by the next one's staffs. She sliced the sharp heads off the staffs, landing belly cuts in the next two, promising them a long and painful death.

When all of them had been dealt with and were incapacitated, Ino breathed a sigh of relief wiping the sweat off of her brow. She retrieved the sword sheaths from the dead body and strapped them on her back as well as miscellanious weapons she recovered. Her senses tingled with chakra signatures and there was another group of sound nin. Great. Just what she needed was more fighting. She tried to access her chakra again and she felt a little bit of it, but not enough to do damage. Damn Neji. However he had limited her chakra, she would never know. But he had said she would need it. Ugh. She'd kick his ass when she finished this stupid mission. That thought brought a smirk to her face as she ambushed the next group of sound nin.

Three groups later, Ino was bloody, the blood being theirs, and tired. She wiped the sweat from her face, using the cloak of enemy nin to do it, and she glanced ahead. This forest was familiar...She walked forward. In front of her was the hidden sound village. Ino gulped. Orochimaru's village. Swiping a forehead protector she tied it in place, stealing a cloak to wrap around her, and placing her konoha one inside her pocket. She wore an anbu uniform, but Ino had yet to be admitted to anbu yet. She shrugged the cloak in place, covering her gear. She wasn't going to fight it now.

She made her way into the village, eyes alert and wide as she took in everything. Criminals of every kind walked the streets, many of them missing nins from other villages that she recognized from the bingo books. They gave her a lecherous smile and a wink and Ino turned her head, disgusted.

"Ugh, no less from the creepy snake seinin." Ino remarked, as she shook her head. Unfortunately as she was rounding the corner she ran straight into someone.

"Ouff, I'm sor-" Ino's words died as she looked up at who she'd run into. Kabuto...

Kabuto pushed his glasses up. "Well, well well. A new recruit for sound? Funny that I didn't see your paperwork." Kabuto said darkly, glasses gleaming as he pulled out his kunai.

Ino took a step backwards, hand reaching for her sword. Instead she found herself pressed against a very male body, his arm grabbing her own and pulling her close.

"You seem to have found who I was looking for" The familiar voice commented, tone dripping with amusement.

Ino's eyes widened as she turned.

"Oh?" Kabuto's lilting tone was mocking as he glared up at the Hyuuga Prodigy.

Neji wore the uniform of a sound nin, his hitae ate blazing with the music note of sound and an anbu gear.

Ino swallowed convulsively.

"I suggest you look over your paperwork more carefully next time, Kabuto" Neji told him, taking Ino by the hand and pulling her, placing his other hand behind her back to push her forward.

Ino couldn't fight him and walk out of that situation alive so she allowed Neji to steer her down an alleyway. Ino should have seen it coming.

"Thank-" She began, but he had her grabbed by the neck and pinned against the side of the alley his own body holding her own struggling one in place.

"You have two seconds to explain to me why you're here." Neji told her, pale eyes cold, purple splotches beneath them from obvious lack of sleep. Those pearlescent eyes were narrowed and cruel. Ino gasped, hands gripping his own that held her as she fought for air.

"coming....for...you..." She wheezed.

"What? That doesn't make any sense" Neji replied. "I betrayed you. I left you for dead, Ino." Neji's eyes were confused, lost and muddled. And then they narrowed.

"So you're back for revenge." He completed, hand tightening around her neck.

"N-neji" Ino begged, twisting against his hold.

His eyes grew wide and he released her clutching his head. "Ahgh.." He gasped in pain.

"Neji?.." Ino asked in concern. Neji pushed her hand away.

"I'm fine." He groaned. "Don't...don't touch me."

"Neji...what happened to you?" Ino asked, confused. They were in his head and somewhere in the back of her head she knew this, but this Neji seemed lost, confused, and brainwashed. Betrayed Neji perhaps.

"Funny. I should be asking you the same thing. I thought I saw you die. How did you survive the ambush?" He demanded, arms pinning her to the wall of either side of her.

Ino's eyes narrowed.

"You sent_ several_ ambushes against me, Neji, how am I supposed to remember which one?" Ino demanded. If she played coy perhaps he would explain himself more. Neji pushed closer to her.

"Don't think I don't know when you're digging for information, Ino." Neji told her, eyes narrowing. "Why don't you remember?"

"Don't think you know anything about me" Ino retorted.

"I should, shouldn't I? Who else would claim that right? We were lovers once..a long time ago to be sure" Neji retorted, a sick grin on his face as he ran the back hand of his finger across her cheek.

"I would never love a traitor like you"Ino snapped and Neji back handed her.

"I wont take your insults, Ino." Neji retorted, threatening.

"I'm not afraid of you." Ino shot right back at him.

Neji's twisted grin returned. "No, but you're coming with me as I just saved your life." He replied.

Ino's eyes flashed angrily. "C'mon" he said, kunai pressed into her back. "I'll take you around town and we'll see if we cant jog that memory of yours"

Who was this Neji? This Neji didn't exist in the real world so how was he existing in Neji's mind?

_This is who I would have become if I had betrayed Konoha._

_So how does that count as an aspect of you?this is ridiculous...I_no glared as she felt the kunai prod into her back.

_The mind always holds the potential. The ability to betray others, the what ifs. This is the self I would have become if I acted on those desires. _

_Great. Fucking great and apparently I banged this one too. _

She felt the smirk of his mind though she couldn't explain how she felt it without seeing it. Ino rolled her eyes.

_Was that your doing too?_ She scoffed but the voice never answered her.

She allowed betrayal Neji to lead her to the compound. They passed through security points, the sound nin taking one look at the Hyuuga prodigy and making way stammering apologies. Neji smirked, and continued forward, acting as if he had his hand over her shoulder, but they missed the kunai he had holding her hostage. He placed his hand on the scanner and a door opened. She presumed this was his private quarters.

"So what does Orochimaru pay to keep you hostage here?"

Neji began to laugh. Ino had rarely heard him laugh and this was the deep laughter. It was haunting.

"You really don't remember, do you? That's kind of funny that someone took _your _memory" He told her, hand cupping her chin as his other hand slipped around her waist.

Ino's eyes were cold steel as she glared up at him.

"I chose this, Ino" Neji told her, eyes serene. "You were my partner. Orochimaru offered me power. I took it. I screwed you over. Any of this ringing a bell?" He asked, as he cupped her chin.

"Don't touch me" Ino told him, moving away from him.

Neji smirked. "You used to like it when I touched you" He said, wrapping his arms around her, and pulling her taught against him. His lips made their way to her neck, brushing against the smooth skin.

Ino gasped. "Stop it, Neji. You don't know what you're doing" Ino snapped.

"Don't I?" He replied as he nipped the delicate flesh.

"Ah..." Ino gasped. "Look" She turned facing him. "No. You dont. Siding yourself with Orochimaru? Working with him? Allowing him to run his creepy tests on others? You obviously don't know what you're doing. Whatever we had...it's done now" Ino told him.

His eyes were puffy, Byakugan on. "You can't fool me with these eyes, Ino. You still want me." He told her.

Ino looked away from the intensity in his eyes. "You can't even look me in the eyes because it's true" Neji smirked.

Ino's eyes narrowed as she looked him straight in the eye. "I don't want who you've become." She told him, eyebrows drawn.

Neji's eyes narrowed. "Drawing lines in the sand are we?"

"I guess we are" Ino replied, eyes never leaving his. Neji stepped forward. Ino stepped back.

"I guess I should take you to Orochimaru then. He would be so pleased to make you the newest test subject." Neji said. Ino felt the wall behind her. Neji's hands locked her in on either side.

"Fine by me" Ino replied. "At least I wont be betraying my country,, wont be betraying my morals" She retorted.

"Even if he gave you to Kabuto for playtime?" Neji asked. Ino shuddered. Neji leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"Stay with me. I won't let them hurt you. If you stay with me you wont be touched. I can promise you that." he whispered as his lips nibbled her ear and made their way down.

Ino sighed into his touch. "Neji.." She murmured, as he pulled her to him.

"Stay. With me" He murmured against her lips as he kissed her. "Please Ino..."

Ino pushed him off of her. "Stop it, Neji. I told you already." Ino said.

Neji's eyes narrowed. "Fine then. If that's what you want I'll hand you over right now" He said latching onto her wrist and tugging her down the hall.

"Neji! Neji stop this. Ouch, Neji you're hurting me-"

"You had your chance. You've drawn your line in the sand. Let's see how well you do with it" Neji snarled, dragging her down the hallway.

"Orochimaru! Orochimaru I have something for you" Neji called.

Ino felt chills down her spine as she heard the creepy laughter.

"Kukukukuku....I see. You've done well, Neji."

"Neji! Don't do this! You are Neji, you're a part of all the other Neji's I've met. Don't you remember?"

Neji clutched his head. "Augh! The memories.....Orochimaru they're coming back again...AHG!" He cried.

Kabuto appeared by his side. "There there Neji. This will set you right." He said holding up a syringe.

"NO!" Ino cried, launching her kunai, shattering the bottle.

"Ahg" Kabuto cried as the syringe broke in his hand. Black eyes narrowed and honed in on Ino. "You're gonna die for that, blondie"

"Don't do this, Neji!. Don't forget why I'm here, why you're here. I came to find you! You have to let me pass" Ino cried.

Sound nin appeared, and Ino sliced them down. Neji watched her, eyes wide as he summoned his Byakugan.

"Neji, don't forget!" Ino cried again.

"Stop her!" Orochimaru cried. Kabuto rose to offensive, grinning maniacly as he pulled out his sword.

"AHHHGGGGGGGG" Neji screamed in pain as he fell to the ground, clutching his head.

"Neji!" Ino cried, and nearly lost her head as she came body to body with Kabuto's sword. "Ahg" She cried, as she was forced back into the wall.

"Neji! Neji you have to remember! C'mon Neji!" Ino pleaded, as Kabuto managed a slice on her arm.

"Ahg! You creepy silver haired bastard!" Ino snarled. "Neji they're gonna kill me! Neji!" She snapped.

"Do it Kabuto!" Orochimaru ordered.

Kabuto eyed Orochimaru and nodded, turning towards Neji.

"NO! NO!" Ino snarled, trying to grab him. She was too slow. The grey haired man was on par with Kakashi's speed and he had always been just a step faster. Kabuto's sword cut him from shoulder to belly, in a diagonal slice.

Ino's chakra crackled to her fingertips as she fried Kabuto. It never occurred to her as she grabbed Neji who choked up some blood, dribbling down his chin, and as she threw the explosive tags down, sprinting with him down the halls that she didn't have lightning based chakra.

"Don't you dare fucking die on me, Neji!" Ino cried as she dragged him down the hall, the explosion rocking the building and sirens blaring. Ninja were running everywhere and Ino found the emergency exit making their way down the stairs.

"I'm not gonna make it."

"Stop talking like that!"Ino choked, trying to swallow her sob as she forced them down the steps. The exit was so close.

"Thank you Ino, but I think...I think it's best if it ends this way"He stammered, skin growing paler with the moment.

"Better for who you idiot? This is your mind. You have the power here, you have the control. Do something for Kami sama's sake, Neji!" Ino cried.

Neji's eyes were growing paler. "No! Don't die on me. I'll be left here alone. Please for God's sake Neji don't die on me" Ino begged as they reached outside.

Neji went limp in her arms, falling to the floor of the forest. "No! No! Goddamn it, Neji!" Ino screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks. She felt for her chakra, and her access was limited.

"You are going to live, Goddamn you, and you are going to live for me, because if you don't Neji, my life is forefeit." She snarled as she forced, pumping chakra through her fingers into his body.

Her fingertips sizzled, and she felt for her chakra. She couldn't access it. Goddamn it she'd see about that. She'd forced her chakra through to kill Kabuto, she'd given herself a trench coat before. She would make her chakra work and he would live, damn him. She reached for something deep inside herself. For something she didn't have, couldn't possibly feel. And the chakra came, exploding through her fingertips as it regenerated his skin tissue, his blood cells. The skin healed before her eyes as Ino clenched her teeth, the pain ripping through her body. Her eyesight went white and she lost focus, feeling her body falling, faster and faster.


	6. Chapter 6

AN: here we go again. If you are enjoying this story please let me know by having the decency to review. It would be helpful. Also any requests for different Neji's that you would like to see?

Tsunade thanked the nurse as she watched them both the dish of sake in her hands. She chugged it, relishing the burning liquid down her throat as hazel eyes focused intently on the pair in front of her. Neji alternated between thrashing, his face betraying his feelings and then lying limp. Ino was as pale as death herself, though her heartbeat was strong, her hand firmly intertwined in Neji's. Tsunade had been checking in on them for the past week. Today was the first day that she had seen Ino's face change emotion. She looked angry or hurt. Tsunade wasn't sure anymore. She wasn't sure of anything.

"She's getting thinner." The nurse commented.

"Put her on it" Tsunade ordered. Ino would have to be fed through tubes, but they couldn't loose her, or him. "We have to keep her alive. You've seen Neji responding. We have to do something."

"Hai, Hokage sama" The nurse replied.

"Don't seperate their hands. Do whatever you have to do to keep them alive, but keep them connected. Do you understand?" Tsunade asked the girl.

The girl nodded. "Yes, Hokage sama." and she set about to get it done.

Tsunade walked out shaking her head, wondering if she had done the right thing.

"You'd better hurry, Yamanaka. You don't have much time." Tsunade muttered as she paced down the hall.

…......................................................

Ino eyes blinked blurrily, she couldn't see straight. "Ahg" She choked as she felt a strong hand on her.

"Who are you?" She asked, unable to keep the fright from her voice. She couldn't see clearly at all. She was drugged.

"A friend" The man's voice replied. "You're in a cave, and safe for now. Drink" He told her forcing the bowl to her lips.

Ino opened her mouth to protest, trying to sit up and got a mouthful of the berry flavored stuff instead. Spluttering she thrashed, hearing something crash. She felt dizzy weak as the juice, whatever it was, took effect. She had been drugged. She had to escape, she had to get up and run away. She had to...Ino's eyes slid shut as she fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

…..........................................................

Blue eyes flashed open as she sat up. She was in a cave and it was snowing outside. She saw the man that she had mistaken for Gai earlier. His long black hair flowed behind his brown tattered cloak, free from it's low ponytail and she saw the cross scar across his face. A fire roared in the center of the cave and he sat by it in contemplation those black eyes reflecting the fire itself. He looked up and she could see his dark fuzzy eyebrows, and his eyes. This wasn't Gai though the resemblance was there.

"Lee...?" She asked hesitating to say it. It was still painful. After all she had attended his funeral only weeks ago in the real plane of existence. Gods that seemed like a lifetime ago. How long had she been wandering around in Neji's mind now? Ino had lost count and there was no telling what time was in his mind because his mind was very different than any other mind she'd been in before. She wondered if she would run out of chakra in the real life? That thought set about an urgency in her. She had to do something. She had to find him. She shivered moving closer to the fire.

The man made no affirmative answer, he simply stared at her with his deep penetrating eyes.

Ino looked away. "Thanks...for saving me" She offered.

"You're welcome" He replied simply, and pointed to the entrance.

"Guess I've stayed past my welcome.." Ino muttered, with a sigh as she raked her hand through her hair.

"No, the snow is falling heavy. You wouldn't last a minute out there like that" He said eying her outfit.

Ino found herself in her purple outfit, belly exposed. No wonder she was so cold she thought with another shivver.

The man that was Lee, and not Lee shook his head. "Take these and change" He told her. "Settle yourself by the fire and warm your soul."

"My soul?" Ino asked, eyebrow arching.

"Aah. The fire of your soul grows feint." He told her as he walked into the snow.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Ino called, but the man was gone, and the snow was too thick to see. Ino sighed and headed to the back of the cave to change. The clothes were simple. She had a camisole top underneath of a longer sleeved turtleneck and pants. She traded out her shoddy ninja sandles for a thick pair of boots with brown trimmed fur around the calves. She could feel blood in her hair, grease and grime from her journey and she felt sticky and gross, like she'd been on a mission for two weeks without showering.

"Ugh" Ino said out loud to herself.

"You owe me big for this one, Neji" She said, eyeing her surroundings. The cave was quaint, with blankets and crudely made clay pots and miscellanious crude weapons strewn about.

"I'd better find you soon. I'm getting tired of this" Ino said with a sigh.

She heard the man who was Lee and wasn't Lee come in and she turned with a smile. The fire had dwindled.

"You must go. If there were any other way..." He paused obviously with regret. "But the storm will not wait. It will only get worse if you sit here."

Ino sighed. "I understand. I'm a tough girl. I've been through the forest, the desert, a lightning storm. Now I get snow is all."

The man who was Lee and was not Lee looked like he wanted to say something but he didn't.

"Take care whoever you are. This is the second time you've saved my ass and I won't forget it."

"Be careful. This next part of your journey will be the hardest yet, you are no closer to finding him than you are further behind-." and then his voice was gone

Ino frowned and turned around in the cave but he was no longer there. "What's that supposed to-" and she faced forward and realized she was in the middle of the snow storm.

"Mean.." she finished sadly. "Right. No hints here about the future." She placed the hood over her hair, and pulled her scarf around her face.

She trudged through the snow, wondering how long she would be here, how long she had left to save Neji, to save herself.


	7. Chapter 7

AN: it's totally narcissistic of me to ask this but I'm doing it anyways. Review. Tell me what you like about this story, tell me what you don't like about this story so that I can change it or at least explain it. In regards to typos or a lack of detail: This chapter should be better in that regards because I'm me and have to introduce some character development. In my defense of previous chapters, I have been simply posting. So you're getting the rough copy straight to the press. When I regain some semblance of sanity I will probably go back and add detail, fill in the gaps and correct the spelling and grammar. Then again hell might freeze over first because I've been saying that for years. X D love you all, my lovelies and thanks for enjoying my personal therapy!

Music of the update: "More than a memory" Hoobastank

Blue lipped and unable to feel her toes, Ino trudged on, teeth chattering in the icy wind. It cut into her face as she trudged onwards. She might genuinely have frostbite at this point.

"Damn it, Neji if you're trying to kill me, you're doing a damn good job of it" Ino shouted into the wind glaring up at the grey bleak sky. Much like his own eyes...

The wind only howled in response and Ino cursed her bad luck. Who would have this much traveling space in their mind? Only prodigy level idiots. She trudged onwards. A light was shinning ahead, wasn't it? Ino thought she might be hallucinating again, but no there actually was a light.

"It's about damn time"she grumbled.

The snow stopped pelting her, a nice reprieve from the snow storm she'd just walked through. Ino could feel the sun peaking through the clouds as she trudged along. The snow became mud, and then dry ground beneath her feet as she seemed to walk miles in minutes. The grass was green as she walked through the carpeted forest towards what looked like Konoha..again. Skeptical, Ino made her way into town crossing the threshold of the gates with trepidation. The last time she'd been through Konoha was when Neji's father had died and he had been but a child. Not knowing what to expect but grateful that she was in Konoha as opposed to a snowstorm she walked through.

Ino made her way to the most logical place he might be found at, the Hyuuga residence. Making her way through town, she smiled as she saw the bustling marketplace, and all the familiar people and the random children that she knew running around. So she could safely say they were in the same age gap as they were in reality. Ino was twenty five and a lot had happened in the years she'd been a jounin. She made her way to the Hyuuga gates and was greeted by the Hyuuga servants. Perhaps they were branch members? Ino wasn't sure, as she had never spent a great amount of time in or around the Hyuuga household, or the Hyuugas, well, ever really. They eyed her suspiciously whispering to each other as she made her way to the front of the house. It wasn't exactly motivation for her to want to come back, but Ino had things to do, and one Hyuuga prodigy to find.

"I need to speak with Neji..." Ino began heisitantly. The servants looked thunderstruck, eying each other.

"We will...find Neji sama." They said, hurrying.

Ino's eyebrow arched in question at their strange behavior. What was in store for her now? Ino wasn't sure she could handle any more fun surprises. Whatever Neji had up his sleeves Ino just wanted to finish this.

She waited on a cement bench in the gardens. Their heisitancy was enough for her to know she wasn't welcome in their house. But why? Why did they eye her with such distaste? Stupid Neji and his stupid mind. What the hell was his problem really? Who thought about these things? _Ugh._ Ino thought with a turn of her head, as if she could throw the problems off of her. She twiddled her thumbs as she waited, kicking her feet every now and then.

It had been a while. She sighed and got up, looking at the gardens. Beautiful flowers surrounded their property. Ino sighed as she leaned closer to smell the Oleanders they had blooming.

"I thought we agreed to stop seeing each other like this" She heard Neji's deep voice behind her.

Ino turned. Neji wore the kimono symbolizing the head of a clan, but that was impossible. Neji could never be the head of a clan, he was a branch member.

"Look, I hate to burst your bubble, but this is all some situation that your mind has created to keep you from getting better. I'm trying to find the real you, but I don't think you're him, so I need you to wake up and realize that this isn't real so that you can send me to the next obstical so I can find your ass and drag it back to the present before we both kick the bucket."Ino told him, hands on her hips.

Neji's face darkened. "This isn't funny, Ino. I told you we have to stop meeting. I meant those words. I love Ten Ten and she's pregnant with our second child." He said.

Ino's jaw dropped. "You think I- we- wha-Oh. Oh. Oh..." Ino realized the implications. Then, in this part of Neji's mind, he was married and she...and he...Ohhhhh...Ino felt sick. She had never been low enough in her entire life to cheat with a married man. It was disgusting and beneath her time and talents. Oh she was going to kill him when she found the real Neji. She would kick his ass, and then shintenshin him somewhere horribly embarrasing. Maybe drag his body around in a chicken costume. Or better yet, bright purple sequins...

"Look, I know you have no good reason to trust me, given our "false past" But I'm serious, Neji this reality is all a lie. You're not married to Ten Ten, you don't have kids and you're not a clan head."

"Ino this is really sick. I didn't know you were so desperate for attention to lie to me. But you should focus on your own marriage and leave mine alone." Neji told her, arrogant tone harsh and commanding.

Ino choked. "M-marriage?" she asked. Oh gods. She was married in this world? Frowning, Ino wasn't sure what to say, or think.

Neji shook his head. "Shikamaru is probably looking for you. You have been away on mission for 6 months. You decided to clear your head from us, remember?"

Ino's eyes widened. Shikamaru...Shika was alive. He was alive in this world. And they were married. Oh gods. She felt her throat tighten.

"Is-is Chouji here?" Ino licked her lips, unsure of whether she wanted to know the answer or not. Surreal. It was a surreal feeling

"Of course he is. He married the ramen stand girl and they have three kids. They live a block from you." Neji said. "You sure you're alright?" He asked, pearlescent eyes frowning.

"What about Asuma?" Ino asked, throat dry, as she hung on every word.

"Asuma and Kurenai still live where they always have with their daughter. Ino maybe you should get some help if you're really struggling to remember. Did something happen on your mission...?" Neji said, placing his hands on her shoulders.

Ino flinched at his touch, and Neji realized what he was doing and let go of her as if he had burned himself by touching her. Ino felt like her world was crumbling. Everything secure, things that she felt like she knew were slipping away. She was trying to take it all in, feeling the tears. Shikamaru, Chouji and Asuma were alive in this world. Maybe her father was alive as well. She could see them, touch them, hold them again...

Ino shook her head to clear it, and swallowed her tears. Gods what was she doing? She couldn't be getting attatched in this world. This was Neji's head, this was all in Neji's head and this wasn't real. They were dead. Dead and nothing could bring them back, not even the power of Neji's illusions. She couldn't let this stop her. They were both running out of time.

"Neji, I'm not lying to you, seriously, this isn't real. Asuma, Chouji and Shikamaru...died" Ino paused on the word and swallowed again. "This is a lie that your mind has created. You aren't married, you're an anbu captain and you are in a coma. I came inside your mind to help you, and now we have to go. You somehow sensed that I could help and I'm trying to, but you have to let me, Neji. We have to leave now." Piercing blue searching his pearlescent gaze. Neji hung his head.

"I know it was real for you Ino, but it has to stop. We have to stop. I can't believe you would speak about your teammates, your teacher that way but I cant do this anymore. What we're doing to our families; it's wrong" Neji told her.

Ino nearly groaned in her frustration. "Gods Neji can you not understand what I'm trying to tell you, it's a lie-"

"Neji?" A musical voice, so familiar to Ino she recognized it immediately called. But that was impossible because in reality she was dead. A very pregnant Ten Ten made her way towards him and he turned, giving him her fullest smile.

"Anata, Ino was just leaving" Neji emphasized as he walked up to his wife and kissed her, tenderly stroking her belly.

Ten Ten nodded.

"I'm not finished-" Ino started, but Hyuuga servants came to grab her arms. "Neji! Neji you know I'm not lying! Neji!" Ino cried, struggling. They dragged her to the main gates and shut them behind her. Ino banged on the gate.

"Neji! Neji! Damn it, Neji you know I'm right-"

"Ino Pig" a soured voice called. "I have been looking all over for you since your mission" Sakura said, glaring hatred.

"Shut it forehead. I've got more important things to do-"

"Than see your husband? Shikamaru is worried about you" Sakura said, looping her arm through hers. "I realize you and Neji had a thing, but for pete sake's let it go already. This isn't like you to be so hung up over a guy like this. And Shikamaru is waiting." Sakura said, walking forward.

Ino couldn't fight the grip Sakura had over her. She glanced gloomily behind her shoulder at the Hyuuga household. She would have to deal with it later. She'd sneak over the wall or something. But she had to make him see how important this was. Both their lives depended on it. Ino looked up, as Sakura and her made their way down a sidewalk towards an unfamiliar house and Ino felt her stomach drop. Sakura opened the door, pulling Ino through as she fought against her.

"No Forehead, I can't do this you don't understand-"Ino began trying to protest. She didn't want to see him or talk to him. She couldn't get attatched.

"I found her" Sakura called.

Shikamaru stood facing the wall, typical shirt and jounin vest. He had his hands in his pocket and his hair up, in that pinneapple shape. He was slouched, like the lazy genius he'd always been. He turned, black eyes heisitant and hopeful as he stared at Ino like she had always wanted him to. Like she was his world and everything in it. Ino's muttered protest dropped, and she released her hold on Sakura's arm, hands limp as she stood, frozen transfixed in place. All she could think about was that he was alive, standing less than 5 feet in front of her.

Sakura shifted awkwardly. "Well I'd better go. Naruto's expecting me for dinner. Ja!" She said closing the door behind her.

Shikamaru coughed awkwardly and moved forward, tentatively placing his hands on her shoulders. His calloused hands, those hands that Ino had trusted, had held whilst they were children, best friends. The hands that had helped her up when she fell from training. The hands that had held her body while she had used her clan kekkai to save them. And Ino lost it.

Tears sprung forth from her eyes as she sobbed into his familiar green vest. He smelled like Shikamaru, the fresh grass from his obvious cloud gazing, right down to his cigarette smoke. He was shocked, but tentatively wrapped his arms around her, holding her close like he had always wanted to. His lips made their way to her ear, hot breathe warm and welcome.

"Sakura said you were at the Hyuuga's. I thought-" He swallowed, obvious tension in his slender frame. "I thought we had put that behind us, Ino..." Shikamaru's obvious pain shone through and Ino only sobbed harder, clinging to him like a lifeline.

Shikamaru picked her up, depositing her in the bed as he went to grab the tissue box. He hopped into the bed beside her, putting the tissues in reach and wrapping her up in the blanket, spooning with her as she trembled. Ino turned and curled into his chest finding safety in his arms, the comforting smell of him, of her best friend for a moment.

"Gods Ino. It's only been six months, but you're looking at me like I'm back from the dead or something."

Frightened periwinkle stared up at him. "You don't know...You have no idea how much I've missed you. I've needed you..." She confessed. "I didn't know that I'd miss your presence so much. Your laziness, your funny way of over analyzing everything. Gods I even missed your shogi board and the way you twirl your cigarettes when you're lost in thought" Ino confessed as she hugged him closer.

Shikamaru looked shocked by the admonition. He kissed her forehead, as he held her.

"I don't know what to say. I've been worried...for months that you were going to leave me....that you'd never come back from your mission...That I wasn't going to be enough to come back to..." He said, black eyes holding the fear and trepidation he held.

Ino could only stare up at him. She tried to stifle her sobs, using her palms to scrub at her eyes, but Shikamaru grabbed her hands. He kissed the last tear that fell down her eyes, moving down her cheek. Ino couldn't move, couldn't breathe. He was dead. He was kissing her. He was dead. His lips pressed warmly against her own and Ino lost herself. She would die with him, for him right now. She couldn't do any more, any less, than wrap her arms around him as the kiss grew wilder. He rolled her over and Ino was lost in a sea of bliss so painfully pleasant that she could do nothing but float as the waves washed over her head, and encompassed the two of them.

…..................................................

Ino shot up, sweat trickling down her face. Was it possible to have a dream within a dream? It was, because Ino could feel the disgust at herself, the aura of ….of disapproval from what she sensed through her dreams of slumber emanating from Neji's mind within her dream within a dream. Ino ran her fingers through her bed tousled hair, Shikamaru slumbering naked beside her. Ino clutched the sheets around her, feeling dirty, tainted and marked. She felt the tears again, and she was disappointed in herself. Disappointed that she couldn't resist him. But why? She had no one to impress, no one to prove anything to...but Neji....She had seen Neji in her dream within a dream. She had seen the look on his face. Betrayal had shone, and Ino felt sick, sick to her stomach. She felt those calloused hands reach out, wrapping around her as he sat up scratching his head.

"What's wrong, trouble?" He murmured, his nickname for her.

Ino felt quesy, nauseous, because in reality he had been engaged to Temari. He had never been hers though she'd wished for it in her deepest darkest thoughts. And now that he was hers, in Neji's mind of all places, she didn't want him, hadn't wanted what had happened between them. He was dead and it was selfish, oh so selfish and wrong. What was wrong with her? Ino shook her head.

Shikamaru sat up, wrapping his arms around her and Ino fought his hold.

"I dreamed something.." Ino said trying to be vague, but Shikamaru was having none of it.

"You have tears in your eyes, Ino. Tell me" He urged.

"Please don't touch me. I can't do this if you touch me." Ino told him. "Turn around" She ordered.

"Ino we've been married for 5 years now. I think I've seen-"

"Do it" Ino ordered, shifting out of the bed. Shikamaru muttered a mendokusai but did as he was told. Ino put on her clothes arms wrapped around herself. "You can look now" She told him.

"You gonna explain what's really going on?" Shika asked her, eyebrows drawn as he waited.

"I don't think I can make this make sense. This isn't reality. You aren't real. You are a figment of Neji's imagination and I have to go to him. Gods Shika." Ino choked. "I wish you were real. I wish this was real. But you're dead. You're not real, damn it. You're- you were engaged to Temari, and then you died. And we are in Neji's head. Just a figment of his imagination and I fell for it. That's the truth. And I- We- I shouldn't have done what I did. Neji knows. And I have to find him. I have to find some fucking way to explain. I can't undo what happened. But I can't stay. I'm so sorry. If this were any other time or place. If this were real...I would stay. I would be yours forever. But I can't. I have to save Neji, even if it's from himself." Ino said, blurring out of the room.

Ino felt the tears streaming down her cheeks as she sprinted using all of her speed. _Please Shika just stay in bed..._she begged, praying though she'd never felt inspired before in her entire life. _Don't come after me. Don't make this harder than it already is. _

…_................................................................................_

Neji awoke with a start, sweat beading on his forehead. He wiped it away with his forearm. Ten Ten slumbered next to him clutching her pregnant belly.

"Mmmm" She shifted next to him. Neji heisitated as his wife woke up. "What's wrong sweetie?" Ten Ten asked, still half asleep.

"Just a dream. Go back to bed." Neji told her kissing her forehead.

"Mmm.." Ten Ten replied and turned, beginning to snore softly.

Neji raked a hand through his hair, sighing as he got up. He would make some tea. That would calm him. His dream had been quite disturbing. It echoed, resounded the words that Ino had told him. He had sensed Ino in the dream, Ino running into the arms of another man. Ino loosing herself. Him dying, with Ino connected to him. Everything she had said had been in the dream...Neji shook his head trying to shake off the dark thoughts. It had to be a coincidence...didn't it? Neji felt her chakra signature and his eyes darkened. She was here? Had she had the same dream? What was he saying? It was a coincidence...but as someone who believed heavily in fate above all things and destiny...Neji had to see her, atleast talk to her one more time.

…......................................................................

"I thought I told you to stay away" Neji's dark voice penetrated the night.

Ino was breathless, having run all the way here. "You had the same dream I did. You were in it. The real you. Not this fake shell of a man you claim to be. You know why I'm here. I have to save us both Neji. I'm...I'm sorry for what happened. I couldn't help it with Shikamaru. I stumbled. But I'm learning from my mistakes. I betrayed your trust. But I'm not going to quit. I'm going to find you, the real you, and I'm going to save us. Both of us are going to get out of this alive. But we need to go. Now. Come with me, Neji!"

"I...." Neji faltered, but then he summoned his Byakugan, eyes alighting.

"Get away from my wife." Shikamaru's voice was dark, eyes as sharp as a knife.

Ino's eyes widened. "Shikamaru..."

A kunai struck the ground between them, forcing Neji back. "Pick up the kunai, Hyuuga" Shikamaru's voice had never been so cold.

"No." Neji replied, eyes narrowed. "I'm not going to fight you, Nara" Neji told him.

"Then you will die just as quickly by my jutsu" Shikamaru snarled, kagemane no jutsu launching.

"NO! Shika stop it!" Ino cried, darting in front of the jutsu. Her shadow was caught, blocking Neji from being caught.

"Ino!" Neji called, fists clenching. He glared balefully at Shikamaru.

"Stay out of this Ino."

"I can't, Shika. No...you're not my Shikamaru. You're some twisted figment of some one's imagination. And I can't let you do that to me..or to him anymore." Ino said, periwinkle eyes hardening. Blue steel met his gaze.

"Last warning Ino, stay out of it." The man who was not Shikamaru told her.

Ino's eyes narrowed and didn't move. She summoned a light justsu, the area filling up with light and breaking his shadows. The man that was not Shikamaru's eyes narrowed.

"Mendokusai..." He muttered, eyebrow twitching.

Neji's eyes widened. "Ino..."

Ino turned to Neji. "I won't let him touch you."

"I don't need your protection" Neji replied.

"Yes. You do" Ino replied, pulling out her kunai. "You have no idea how bad you need my protection Neji. Somebody has to save you. So concentrate and wake up. Pull your head out of your ass before someone gets hurt." Ino retorted, tying her hitae ate around her forehead.

Shikamaru's eyes narrowed. "So this is your choice?"

Ino nodded.

Shikamaru clenched his jaw. "So be it." He said, launching his jutsu forward.

"This is between you and me." Ino told him, tumbling to the side as she launched kunai.

He dodged, and retaliated, sending his shadows forward. Ino leapt to the trees of the Hyuuga estate, hoping high ground would stretch his limits, but his jutsu only blended with the shadows and Ino cursed as she lost track of it. She felt the shadows go around her neck and she cried out as the shadows began to strangle her. Shikamaru's face, the man that was not Shikamaru, but in Shikamaru's body; his face was twisted in anger and something akin to joy as he pressed his hand forward.

Ino choked. This was not Shikamaru. Shikamaru would never hurt her like this. Ino looked to Neji who stood shocked by what he saw. He knew. He knew that this wasn't him either. Ino nodded at him as he turned to look at her. She turned her eyes back to the man that was not Shikamaru and concentrated, bringing her hands together. She had just enough air. She had to make it. She had to save them. She formed the symbols and with her last breathe whispered. "Shintenshin...No...Jutsu"

She opened her eyes in Shikamaru's body. Lowering her own body using his clan's ability, she set her body aside.

"Ino?" Neji asked, having seen what had happened. Ino made the body nod. She lifted the kunai to the body's neck.

"This is the only way I can make you see that I'm serious. By killing the only thing I ever really loved. By killing Shikamaru, I will prove to you that this is a lie. Because I would never kill the real Shikamaru. And the real Shikamaru would never hurt me." Ino said through Shikamaru's voice and slit his throat wide open.

Neji cried out and Ino returned to her body, staring up at Neji who had tears in his eyes.

"Ino! Ino! Ino, no!" He was saying over and over again.

Ino felt cold, cold and wet and sticky. Her own blood, her own blood was pouring out of her neck. She hadn't broken the jutsu fast enough.

"Ino, No, Gods don't go. I believe you....I believe it-" Neji cried, but his voice faded, and all Ino could see around her was darkness. Darkness unending.

AN: will there be more? Yes, but I need sleep right now.


	8. Chapter 8

AN: So this chapter just sort of came. I've been watching Heroes and anytime I watch good movies or T.V. shows with action in it, they inspire me to write. So this chapter is brought to you by Heroes season 3. Enjoy!

"Hokage sama! Hokage sama, We have an Emergency!" The nurse cried as she burst into the room the Godaime was making her temporary office to monitor her two comatose clan members. It had been long, too long since she'd seen any progress and Tsunade had been fearing the worst. It appeared that the worst had come knocking at her very door.

Tsunade's eyes widened and she was down the hall, racing as the nurse was hot on her heels.

"Fuck" Tsunade said as she laid her hands on Ino's comatose body. "Get me the surgical team and their equipment."

"Hokage sama, I don't understand..."The nurse stammered. "I mean...How is it possible that she has internal bleeding? I don't-" The nurse began.

"The surgical team! Equipment, Now" Tsunade ordered.

"But she's in his head. How can there be such physical changes in a mental, comatose state-"

"IT DOESN'T MATTER, JUST DO IT! " Tsunade snarled, glaring at the simpering girl.

The girl froze, but shook herself out of it, professional enough to not take it personally. She took it as a wake up call. These two were depending on her. The hokage had been a mess since Ino had delved into the Hyuuga captain's mind though few could actually see the difference it made in the kage's attitude. "How are we supposed to get all the equipment here?" She asked, eyes wide.

"I don't care if you have to use a summoning jutsu, just get it before she dies on me!" Tsunade snapped, pumping healing chakra into Ino as blood dribbled down her chin.

"C'mon Ino. C'mon damn it, stay with me. Damn it Ino, stay with me!" Tsunade half choked as she forced her chakra into the girls body.

The body convulsed in response, but blue lifeless looking eyes stared back. Tsunade was stabilizing injuries one by one, working with professional detachment as the healing took place.

* * *

_Stay with me..._

Ino's eyelashes flickered. She'd heard something. Someone calling her name. Ino was floating, curled on her side in the darkness, suspended in mid air, and she honestly couldn't give a damn. She was warm and comfortable, and safe. Nothing could harm her here. No freak apparitions from her and Neji's past. No Neji illusions. No deceased teammates coming back from the dead. No more trials, no more tribulations. Just dark and quiet and warm. Ino sighed into the darkness, eyes flickering closed again.

_Ino._

"Mnrgh." She groaned, and turned over away from the sound. She didn't want to hear it.

_Ino. You have to get up. _

"Don't wanna." Ino snapped, burying herself in her arms, golden hair free from it's ponytail and trailing over her shoulders like golden silk.

_Ino you need to get up. Its not safe here. _

"I'm tired, If you haven't noticed. Exhausted, really. And I'm dead anyways. You think I can't feel time running out? All I want to do is sleep."Ino replied, turning over on her hand.

_You're still alive, Ino. And so am I. This isn't like you. You're so close. Are you really going to give up now?_

"Who are you to ask that of me? You've got some nerve to say something like that to me. Gods, Neji, I just killed Shikamaru again so one of the fucked up you's could believe that I was really me. And now all I want to do is curl up and sleep. _Okay_?" Ino snapped, getting up and glaring into the darkness.

_Ino, you didn't kill him. Everyone knows that._

"No, they don't, Neji." Ino replied.

_ I know that you didn't kill him. It wasn't your hand that ended his life, Ino. _

"Stop it.I don't want to hear anymore." Ino snapped.

_Too bad. You need to hear it, Ino. Don't tune me out. _

"Not listening!" Ino replied.

_ You told me about his death, remember? _

"And I shouldn't have. It was a mistake! I shouldn't have said anything." Ino said, trembling as she glared with clenched fists in the darkness. "Now shut up!".

_He ordered you ahead. He gave you the scrolls, Ino. He left the children in your charge. He gave you a head start. You didn't know he was going to die._

"He died because I wasn't strong enough, damn it" Ino returned.

_You did everything you could. You did what you were supposed to do, what any support ninja would have done in that situation. _

"If he had any other kunoichi, it wouldn't have turned out like this, Neji. I was the top of my class, the best kunoichi in the academy. And then I went downhill from there." Ino replied.

_You made Jounin, didn't you? You advanced your clan's jutsu, all on your own. _

"And all of it is meaningless because none of it is enough to bring him back" Ino shouted. "Forehead could have fought with him and lived, Hinata would have stayed. Ten Ten would have had more than enough ammunition to take out the enemy nin. Temari would have killed anyone that had tried to touch him before they lifted a finger! So don't you tell me that I didn't have a hand in his death, Neji. I wasn't strong enough to fight with him. He sent me on because I was only going to be in his way. My lack of strength killed him." Ino felt the tears again and her eyes narrowed. No. She wasn't this weak. She wouldn't cry anymore.

_There was no one else to take the children from Orochimaru's lab. They would have had to fight their way across the border, and instead they had you to fight their way across the border, to lead them in the right direction and get them safely into Konoha. Those children owe you their lives _

"I don't care about them! I never did! I didn't give a damn about any of those kids. I went because Shikamaru went! I went because I wanted the chance to convince him to love me. And all the lives of those children isn't enough to bring him back is it?"

_and maybe he did, Ino. He had to have loved you, if he sent you ahead. He wanted you and the children to make it out safe._

"Bullshit. He knew that was the best outcome he could possibly hope for on this mission because he was a genius. Shikamaru was always a lazy bastard. But secondly, he was a coward. He didn't want to have to choose. He knew how I felt. He was engaged to Temari through the Hokage. " Ino retorted.

_I don't think that. _

"Your opinion doesn't matter" Ino snarled.

_That's not true, either. You confessed this to me in weakness, but there was more to the reason than that, Ino. If my opinion hadn't mattered, you wouldn't have bothered with me at all. But you told me everything, Ino. I held you as you cried. I held your hand at his funeral. _

"Contrary to popular belief, The world doesn't revolve around you, Hyuuga Neji! Is that what this whole mind thing is all about? You wanting a piece of me because I brokenly confessed about my dead teammate? The man I loved? You were a body, Neji. I would have talked to anyone at that moment" Ino sneered.

Ino knew she'd said too much. Lashing out was always how she'd dealt with her anger, with her hurt. She could feel the hurt emanating from him. Ino was sorry she'd hurt him, but she didn't regret what she'd said. Neji couldn't hold onto things like that. Couldn't depend on her like that. Ino hadn't recovered from Shikamaru's death. Hadn't forgiven herself for Temari's pain, her own pain.

"I hate this. I want out." Ino said, hanging her head.

_There's only one more challenge, and then you'll be done. _Neji's professional voice resounded in his head. He was as cold and distant as the stars.

"One more?" Ino replied.

_This is the hardest. Be careful._

"Careful? This is your mind, Neji. You control what goes on here."

_ There's more to it than that, Ino. I meant to tell you but never got the chance to. We don't have much time, while we're here in this place you created in my mind I can speak. Team Gai discovered something about Shikamaru's death. Something so secret, they were silenced to keep it, but I found out. I'm not the only one here in my head. I-_

Ino heard the static. What the hell...? A voice she didn't recognize came out of the darkness.

"I'll be kind. If you stay here and die, you can slip away peacefully. If you enter into my world, then I can assure you, your death with be as painful as possible."

Ino's eyes narrowed. "So there's someone else inside Neji's head. Interesting."

"Think about it. You could be with Shikamaru until the end if you just stay here."

Ino's eyes widened. "You created these illusions in his mind. You've been a part of them. All of them. And you're afraid. Its why you don't want me moving on. Why you've done everything in your power to stop me." Ino said, realization hitting her like a brick wall. She rose to her feet, tying her hitae ate around her forehead.

"You're too weak, and too late. Even if you enter now, I will make you suffer to your dying breathe." The man's voice threatened.

"We'll see about that" Ino said, steel blue eyes summoning her chakra.

She felt the subspace that she'd created within Neji's mind evaporate like a cloud of fog. She checked herself briefly and analyzed his brain patterns from her chakra. No damage to Neji's brain. Ino breathed a sigh of relief. She looked at her surroundings. She was in the forest of Konoha. It was someone she knew. It was someone from home. Ino's eyes narrowed.


	9. Chapter 9

AN: On the fourth season of heroes. I'm literally sucking in the series and loving it. I'm such a comic fan at heart and jeph loeb and tim sale are like some of my favorite dynamic duos in the comic book industry. Anywho music of the update it "Hero" by Skillet.

Ino's eyes darted to the left as she heard something crash from the tree tops. The forest creatures burst into startled song in the grey sky above. She darted into the bushes, crouching. Ice blue eyes hardened, glinting as she waited.

A man in an Anbu mask stood up from his crouch. That was a long drop from the tree tops. The man had excellent chakra control.

"I'm not here to fight. I want to talk first." The tone was sincere and his chakra was level enough to confirm his statement.

He wore a hooded cloak covered any distinguishing feature besides the mask and his anbu gear. Ino pulled out her kunai, feeling far more comfortable with a weapon in hand as she stood up and walked forward. He sensed her and she knew that he knew he'd sensed her so there was no point in hiding. Ino was done walking in circles around Neji's mind.

"Yamanaka Ino, is it?" The voice was familiar, but Ino couldn't put her finger on it. There were only a handful of people that had ties to Orochimaru and so Ino mentally narrowed the list down while she observed him.

"I don't do business with no name faces. Take off your mask." Ino ordered, eyes narrowed. She was on her guard, stance firm in case she needed to retreat or launch an offensive. She had the power here, even if it was in Neji's mind, giving her a distinct tactical advantage.

The mask was removed.

Dark piercing black eyes met her own steel glinted blue.

"Ah. I should've guessed a creepy henchmen like yourself would be involved in something like this. But why go to all this trouble? Getting into someone's mind is risky business" Ino asked, eying him with distaste.

A sinister smile glided across his features, and Ino felt her hackles rise. This man gave her the absolute creeps and she wanted nothing more than to kill him and soap off the oily feeling that pervaded her while she was in his presence.

"Let's just say sound does what it takes to keep things quiet." Kabuto told her, pushing up his glasses.

"Must have been something awfully important to off Team Gai" Ino retorted.

"It was." Kabuto replied with a shrug. "But certainly this is nothing that concerns you."

"They were my friends and good ninjas of Konoha. Tell me why I shouldn't kill you here and now." Ino retorted with a sneer.

"Because it would not benefit you in the slightest. You have no emotional ties or true attatchments to the Hyuuga clan, or it's anbu captain Hyuuga Neji. The Yamanaka clan is becoming prestigious in it's own rights due to your advancements for them. You're making a name for your clan and others are right to fear your power. Should you develop your kekkei genkei further there is no fathomable end to what you could do " Kabuto said silkily. He was a good smoozer she'd give him that. Obviously the man had experience in negotiations.

"Killing you gets this entire operation done and over with and sound doesn't exactly have the greatest reputation for being honest. I get to go home and another Konoha nin walks away from death. That's a double win if I counted correctly" Ino replied holding up her two fingers.

"Yes, but as you said it yourself, none of this, any of the things you are doing now would bring back your beloved teammates, your precious sensei..." Kabuto trailed off.

Ino's eyebrow arched. "Didn't your mother tell you it's rude to listen in on other people's conversations?"

"Orochimaru discovered a jutsu to bring back the dead. All it would require would be bodies to host them, and we have no limit of those in sound. You could have power, a name for yourself and your clan. And you could have your beloved team and sensei back. Kurenai's daughter could have a father."

"And how do I achieve all of this?" Ino retorted.

"You do nothing." Kabuto replied evenly.

"Nothing?" Ino asked, eyebrows rising in surprise.

"We simply sit here, until Hyuuga Neji is dead, and you agree to come to me in sound."

"And where exactly is that?" Ino asked. She smiled a dark smile. Kabuto returned the gesture well aware of her plans. It was subtle but not subtle and cunning enough for this one. Ah well atleast she'd tried.

"I'm afraid I will need more of an assurance of faith before I trust you with that information." Kabuto replied, arms crossed.

"Then there's no deal You have to give trust to get it." Ino retorted her own arms folding.

"I'm sorry that we couldn't come to terms, Yamanaka san." Kabuto said, pushing his glasses up.

Ino whittled forward, pulling a sword she'd created from chakra out of Kabuto's dying form. The body fell to the ground, slumped in a pool of blood.

"Whoever you are, you'll have to do better than that to get me. Kabuto's been dead for 3 days in the real world. So you're either excellent at genjutsu or you take me for an absolute idiot." Ino stated.

_You were actually considering it? _Neji's thoughts brushed her own.

_Did I know you could read minds? _She asked with her thoughts.

_You are the one doing this, Ino. You've been the one with the power all along._

Ino was startled by that thought. _So I started the conversations with you?_

_ Aah. _

_ Interesting. To answer your question, yes. I was considering it. But I never would have done it. _

_ Why? Isn't that what you wanted, was to get Shikamaru back? To get your teammates and Asuma back?_ Neji asked.

_ Because I experienced Shikamaru coming back, thanks to your twisted mind. and Even if Kabuto put them in a body and they looked the same, it would never be the same. It can't. He can't transplant their personalities, their souls. They're dead and I can't live my life as if they aren't anymore. Plus sitting back and watching you die would have been kind of harsh, don't you think? I was ordered to come and save you after all._

_ My hero. _Neji thought with a chuckle.

_You overestimate me or underestimate me, Neji but seldom ever do you get it right. This isn't about you. This is about me. Tsunade hag is gonna owe me big time for this one and I intend to reap fully the rewards this time._

She could feel Neji's sigh. _You're scared, I get it. You don't want to commit to something you can't follow through on and so you think it's easier to keep things the way they are, easier to put the wall up and be distant, but things can't go back to the way they were between us. I can't just pretend to be your friend, Ino. Not when we could have so much more.. I can feel your mind when you let me you know?_

_ Get out of my head! _Ino snapped. She felt the wall up between them and their thoughts. Feeling more in control than she had during this entire unpleasant mind journey, Ino took a deep breathe.

_Someday you're going to get tired of pushing people away. Maybe that's why Shikamaru never "returned" your feelings. Maybe he was afraid too. _

_ You know nothing about me or Shikamaru, so stop spouting things out of your ass. I'm here to save you, Nothing more and Nothing less, so why don't you start being useful instead of philosophical on my life, which you known next to nothing about, and start working on your own? You can start by telling me where the hell you are. _

_ Forward. _Was his terse reply. She'd hit his buttons alright. 

_ Mind being more specific, captain obvious? I think I might keel over from having too many descriptive instructions to follow. _

_ In the middle of the clearing, with the remainder of Team Gai. This is the last me, so the closer you get, the less you will be able to hear my thoughts. _

_ I think I can handle myself, thanks. _Ino retorted with an eye roll.

_Be careful. _He murmured, tone sincere and worried. Ino sighed and raked a hand through her bangs, frustrated. Now her mind was going against her? Ino had about enough of this "fun".

* * *

She made her way forward, eyes alert. She could see the clearing Neji had described and saw him kneeling.

"Neji!" Ino cried, jubilant. She had found him. Her mission was finally over. The relief she felt was overwhelming. Only she had a problem.

Neji made no reply. As Ino came closer, it seemed he was in his own little world. Sightless Byakugan stared straight forward, but he made no movement, no sound of acknowledgment. Ino waved her hand in front of him. She poked him. His chest rose in and out, but it was shallow by any medic's standard. Dark splotches smeared beneath his eyes looking like he hadn't slept in weeks, and he sweated profusely, as if he was strained by something. He was pale and clammy to the touch. Ino tried shaking him. He made no movement. Ino frowned.

Ears prickling she turned around to see a man panting for breathe. Cloaked in black, Ino's guard tripled.

"Ino.." Sasuke muttered, staggering forward. One eye was yellow, the other his black eyes that she had fawned over in her youth. Her eyes widened, alarmed. Uchiha Sasuke. The name that would remain nameless in her presence. The man that she had loved so many years ago. The man that had ruined her for everyone else. The man that Shikamaru could never be, the man that Shikamaru had always been better then. The man that had betrayed their country time and time was taller, paler, white shirt, purple rope belt just like Orochimaru. He still smelled like flash powder and the musky scent of the forest.

"Sasuke.." Ino murmured, arms around him, invitingly blue eyes pale. And then she sunk her kunai into his gut, pulling all the way up to his throat. Sasuke gurgled, blood dripping everywhere as she twisted her kunai into his chin.

"Idiot" Ino chided. "You think I don't know Orochimaru is dead. Kabuto, who was the only living host remaining, died 3 days ago. What kind of half rate ninja do you take me for?" Ino retorted.

The body hissed and sizzled, and snakes exploded from the body, Ino retreating as she eyed them all in horror.

"The kind of half rate ninja that isn't so well informed" Said a voice behind her, dark and sinister. She felt the blade of his kusanagi bite into her skin, could feel the electrical current of his favored technique from his old teacher, the chidori. This was Sasuke. She could feel it from the heat that was like an aura around the raven haired Uchiha heir.

"I suppose I could return the favor for what you did to my clone, but where's the fun in that?" He murmured hot breathe on her ear. Ino fought the shiver she felt.

"And you could say that I'm not a fool either. I've watched you, Ino. All this time. I've thrown all sorts of things at you. And yet you've been....persistent." Sasuke complemented her.

Uchiha Sasuke just complimented her. Ino might have died of shock. If only forehead could see her now. Ino shook the thought off. She was in huge trouble if she had to fight him. Could she fight him? Well considering that she'd just stabbed and cut the hell out of his clone...

"You've managed to survive everything I've thrown at you. I'm..impressed, Ino." Sasuke murmured, drawing nearer.

Ino shivvered. It was wrong. It was everything she had wanted to hear from him. But it was wrong. Sasuke had to come home. He had to come back to Konoha.

"The offer still stands. I could use a woman of your...abilities." He said, nipping her ear.

Ino froze feeling her breathe hitch. Sasuke was nibbling on _her_ ear. Sasuke was asking _her_ to come with him, Sasuke was asking _her _to be with him. Ino's eyes filled with tears and she blinked them back closing her eyes as she swallowed, painfully. Time stood still, his breathing clear as he stood so very close to her, sword still at her throat. Ino exhaled sharply and blue eyes focused, clear and intent on his.

"That's the problem, Sasuke. All you do is use, and use and use and then you throw it away like some broken toy. I'm not going to be your newest_ toy_." Ino retorted.

"Then all there's left is to place you under a genjutsu. Yours won't be as pleasant since you've been so troublesome." He smirked on the last line and Ino's fists clenched.

"Ah-ah-Ah- let's not be hasty, Yamanaka" Sasuke said, sword tightening. The cut on her neck deepened, a single line of blood spilling down her neck, hot and sticky.

"Where's Neji?" Ino snapped eyes wide, breathing heavy.

"He's safe. Something you're not." Sasuke replied darkly.

"Why Neji? What could you possibly gain by taking out team Gai?" Ino retorted.

"It has nothing to do with you." Sasuke retorted.

"You're going to kill me anyways, what difference does it make?" Ino said with an eye roll.

Sasuke sighed. "I suppose you should know this.... Nara died by my hands."

"W-what?" Ino's eyes were wide.

"He gave you some very important research."

"The scrolls." Ino snapped.

"The children. I finally found the cure." Sasuke replied. "Cure?" She asked, trembling.

"I forgot. You've never seen the monster in me." Sasuke replied, releasing his sword and turning her around. Before her eyes he changed into a purple beast like creature, red sharingan eyes whirling, black tomoe standing out in constrast to those red orbs lost in black. His hair was long, shaggy and wild as he was. He growled, as hand looking, wing like projections sprouted out of his back.

"The cursed seal project from Orochimaru..." Ino faltered. Sasuke was a living monster. She had known this, learned this the hard way from having to recover his victims but this was something else entirely altogether.

"Even after his death, I wasn't able to remove it. Nara took my findings. So I killed him. I would've killed you too only you made it safely into the border. I thought I had covered my tracks better. The Anbu captain of Team Gai discovered my little mishap and shared with his cohorts. They managed to kill Kabuto, which did me a favor, but still the knowledge of the cure was too important. So I killed them. And now you and he are the last. You should be honored, Ino. Ten Ten nor Lee lasted as long. Not even the lazy genius Nara." Sasuke smirked.

Ino's eyes narrowed. "And where is Neji?"

"Somewhere lost in my genjutsu, like you're about to be" Sasuke said, summoning his mangekyou.

Ino closed her eyes summoning her chakra. Sasuke was an idiot if he thought she would be outdone in Neji's mind. She had been walking in minds since she was old enough to form chakra. Her father had taught her well. She had expanded her clan's jutsu, extending the control one had in the mind. She had been able to successfully enter a comatose patient and damn it, she was going to save him. She was going to save them both

_I need your help Neji. You have to fight him with me. _Ino told him.

Sasuke drove forward, slicing his kusanagi against the chakra barrier Ino had formed around herself. This too was a new development, to save her body since she no longer had anyone to protect her.

_ I can't break his mangekyou. What do you think I've been doing since I've been in a coma? I'm dying Ino. _

Sasuke sliced through, and Ino leapt into the trees, sprinting as she threw kunai. He deflected them easily, eyes narrowed.

"You're going to die, Ino. Why fight it? You can feel the strength leaving your bodies." Sasuke taunted.

Ino's eyes narrowed.

_ Idiot. If you wanted to live you'd prove it to me. What the hell, Neji? You tell me in crypted ways that you want a chance with me and then you bail on my like every other person in my life? Like every other man in my life? I need you, right now, Neji._

Ino turned, summoning chakra blades, but she felt her grip slipping on them as he drove his kusanagi between her twin blades, forcing them back at her. Ino cried out in her grip.

"Ne...Ji...." She strangled out, as Sasuke sliced her from collarbone to navel. Crying out in pain, Ino fell backwards off the tree, plummeting. Blue eyes flickered in the wind, the tears streaming down her face as she fell. It was over. She had lost.

She was caught by a pair of familiar arms. Blinking, as she felt her wounds hiss and sizle, she watched as they healed, a light purple aura shimmering off them. Staring in wonder, she looked into the clear, but exhausted eyes of one Hyuuga Neji. He was awake. He was alive. He had healed her. He had caught her.

"Neji?" She asked, heisitant. If this wasn't the real Neji, which was entirely possible, given her luck, she was screwed.

"Aah." He replied, fixing his piercing Byakugan on her. Words, thoughts, emotions. All of the different Neji's she had experienced in that single but profound gaze. It made sense to her. He made sense to her. He set her down, carefully.

"Are you alright?" He asked, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Dandy." She replied with a grin. "Kicking his ass now?" She mused.

"Indeed." Neji replied, turning and drawing his katana. Neji's chakra emanated a purple aura, while Ino's glowed blue surrounding her. Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

"Even combined you don't have the power to defeat me."

"Chee." Neji stated.

"Watch me" Ino replied as they both launched forward. Swords flying, hurtling and dancing as Sasuke was forced to block the both of them. Neji moved nearly as fast as Sasuke did, and Ino was able to add to the intensity of their fight with her own moves. She was going to be a special jounin, damn it!Neji was forced back and Ino launched her own offensive. She had grown deadly with the sword and she was about to show sasuke why you didn't mess with her in someone else's mind.

In the real world Ino might have been trounced. She simply couldn't hold a candle to the Sharingan and it's ability to predict her movements. But in this world.... In Neji's world, in the place of the mind, a place she had walked for well over a decade...Sasuke didn't have a prayer. Because though Sasuke had the Sharingan, He was a projected image of himself, therefore, though he was here in the mind, he was not quite here nor there. He didn't have the skill to navigate the subtle nuances of the human mind. And mind over matter was quite effective and made the sliver of a difference.

Sasuke threw Neji across the forest floor and Ino leapt to the offensive. Ino used the boost she felt in his mind, and channeled her chakra to her speed. Speeding up with ease, as Neji himself was awake and his mind was actually helping her, Ino landed several slices upon the Uchiha bastard, so far as to cut him clean across the chest. His white shirt was in tatters as well as his blood.

"This isn't possible" He snarled. "You're weak." He strangled, jaw clenched as blood dribbled down his chin.

"You made a fatal mistake, Sasuke kun." Ino drawled with a grin. "You underestimated the wrong girl. I'm a mind walker. In what world did you ever hope to defeat me, here in a place that I've excelled at since childhood. You're out of your league, Uchiha." Ino told him, as she sliced deep into his arm.

"Arghh" Sasuke cried, grabbing his arm, kusanagi still in hand. Ino held her sword at his throat.

"Tides have turned, haven't they, Sasuke kun?" Ino purred. "Leave, and I wont kill you"

Sasuke's jaw was clenched in fury. He held onto his arm, dripping blood from his clenched fist. He glared balefully at the blonde and she only grew that much brighter. In her hand she summoned a bright blue light.

"Impossible." Sasuke strangled out.

"In this world I can summon and use anything I like. You don't stand a chance here, Sasuke" Ino retorted, the crackling roar of chidori overpowering the area. Just the feel of her massive chidori was burning him. If he stayed here, he would die. Of that he knew now for certain.

"Don't think you've won. I'll come for you just when you think it's all over." Sasuke snarled, and disappeared into the darkness.

The grey skies began to clear, the sunlight coming out. Ino breathed a sigh of relief and walked her way over to the Hyuuga prodigy. His breathing was heavy.

"We're getting out of here, NOW!" Ino cried, and they vanished.

* * *

Ino gasped for air as she shot up from the hospital bed. Beside her Hyuuga Neji's heart beat could be heard with the machine, the ting-ing sound growing stronger. Ino pulled the I.v. From her arm, pulling the tubing from her nose.

A very disgruntled nurse tried to stop her from getting up, but Ino would not be budged, demanding to see the Hokage and that Neji be seen to.

Tsunade was outside of her makeshift office instantly. Her hazel eyes were wide as she took in the Blond Yamanaka clan member.

"Mission status?" Tsunade asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Succesful" She replied wearily. "He should be up within an hour. You owe me big. I'm gonna go sleep this off and get some pants, it's a bit drafty in this thing" She said looking at her medical gown. Behind her, several ninja had spontaneous nose bleeds, nurses attending to them. Ino vanished, leaving Tsunade shaking her head and heading to see her Anbu captain.

AN: Yes there's more but I haven't decided on how exactly it's going to work out. Any ideas or thoughts? Clicky on the review button! Gracias mi amigos y amigas!


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Not sure where this chapter will lead me. As usual I get taken by the muse and get lost on the bunny highway of plotting it leads me on. Oh and ps. REVIEW PEOPLE! Geez, nobody reviews these days and it's totally discouraging....

Neji's eyes flickered open. He blinked them blearily, his entire body feeling like it'd been run over by a fleet of enemy ninja. All he could see in front of him was a blonde woman. He tried to focus but his head began to ache and he lifted his hand to stop the pounding.

"I-Ino?" He croaked. His throat was dry and scratchy and his mouth was full of cress. The woman gave him a drink and he drank it almost greedily, so desperate for it.

"Slow down, Neji" The familiar voice of the Godaime Hokage greeted him. Disappointed, but startled that the Hokage was taking personal time for him, he replied. "Ho-Hokage sama." Neji croaked.

"Take it easy there, Hyuuga. You've had quite the brush with death. Ino filled me in on the pressing details. Uchiha Sasuke was behind this?"

"Aah." He replied as he spilled some of his water in his haste. He wiped his mouth feeling disoriented. He felt gross, covered in sickly sweat, his hair caked with dirt and grease. "Where is Ino?"

"Recovering. As you will be doing. You will spend this week getting yourself healthy. You've lost some weight and your weak. You may experience dizzy spells from the after effects of being in a genjutsu for so long, so you are to take it easy, do you understand? I'm assigning you a nurse" Tsunade fixed her most heated glared.

"Aah." Neji nodded, but his heart wasn't in it. Ino wasn't around. How utterly disappointing.

"Focus, Neji. I only have a few more minutes before I have a meeting" Tsunade growled. Neji straightened.

"I need you well because next week you're back into the ranks. I wish I could have given you more time, but we simply don't have it to spare. After next week you should have some time to straighten...other things out."

"How was Ino when she returned?" Neji asked. Tsunade's eyebrow arched. He missed her look.

"Tired and thoroughly beat when I saw her. She looked like hell, but not nearly as bad as you do." She replied skeptically as she eyed him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah..." Neji's brow furrowed, lost in thought.

Tsunade sighed. "I realize that there were a lot of things that probably happened inside your mind, but those things will have to wait, Neji. Give her and yourself some space to deal and process with it all and then go talk to her. Give the girl some time to clear her head." Tsunade said kindly.

Neji sighed. As much as he didn't want to wait, as much as he simply wanted to go to her right now, the Hokage was right. It was too soon for the both of them. He didn't want to scare her and he didn't want to talk out of his ass and the painkillers and other meds he was on. He also didn't want to be pitied by her. It was chaffing enough that she had saved him, that he had been outdone and out classed by the Uchiha.

* * *

Ino was arranging the most recent customer's flower vase when she heard the bell ring. She straightened her apron to greet the newest arrival and felt _him_. His chakra signature was hard to mistake and the fact that she had most recently spent a great deal of time inside his head had her over sensitive to his chakra patterns. She knew when he was coming not that she wanted to. If Ino was being honest she'd say that she wanted nothing to do with the proud Hyuuga prodigy. But that would require acknowledging his existence, something she had sworn off after "the incident". It helped that the Hokage was keeping him busy. After all loosing her star anbu captain had put a strain on the entire squad. Instantly on the defensive, her eyes narrowed, hardened as she stiffly offered a murmured greeting of welcome. What was he doing here?

Hyuuga Neji, resplendent in his Anbu captain's gear, hair tied back as usual, eyed her with those pearlescent eyes and a triumphantly bright smile. Ino's eyes flashed, weary already of his overly enthusiastic swagger. She didn't know why he looked so damn smug. If he had wanted to find her two weeks after their "incident" because that was how Ino was referring to it, then it wasn't that difficult. He had found her by looking in the one and only place she ever was; the flower shop. He looked at her and then began walking down the aisles of the flowers pretending to browse the aisles. Her eyes took him in as he turned from her. He had gained back the weight he'd lost in the short time and his skin had returned to a healthy pink. She'd been in the shop the past two weeks avoiding the rest of the world, not specifically him so she hadn't seen him since "the incident".

"Can I-help you?" Ino asked, trying not to grit her teeth. Her smile was purely deceptive saccharine.

"What would you recommend for a friend that's been...distant?" Neji asked her, touching the Lillies delicately.

Ino flinched. "How about a Thank you card for saving your life and calling it even. Cards are a lot less personal" Ino retorted with a scowl, turning.

"But what if I wanted to buy flowers to say thanks?" Neji retorted with a small smile tugging at his lips.

Ino turned, hands on her hips. "Flowers? Really Neji?"

"Really" He replied, pearlescent eyes meeting her own obstinately.

Ino sighed "I work here, for pete sake's, Neji. If you wanted to thank me all you had to do was say it. I wish you'd sent a card instead. Now that you've said it, without saying it, you can leave unless there's something else I can help you with. But if you're gonna waste my time, I have work to do." Ino retorted, heading back to her vase. She settled herself on the stool and took a deep cleansing breathe, applying herself to the work at hand.

"You know I've never seen you here in the flower shop before." Neji commented, breaking her zen like state she'd flowed into.

Ino's eyebrow twitched and she shot a dark glare at him.

"I'm enjoying watching you in your element" Neji quipped as he leaned against the counter.

Ino's fist slammed against the counter. "What do you want from me, Neji? If you're not buying flowers then get the hell out of my store" Ino snarled.

"I'll take these" He said grabbing a bouquet behind him with a small smile.

Ino rolled her eyes. "Who are they for?"

"Ten Ten and Lee." Neji replied, straight faced.

Ino choked, red faced in her embarrassment. Of course they were for his fallen teammates. He'd never come to this shop before now, and the only reason he did now was to honor his comrades. His entire conversation had been to rub it in her face. Ino stiffened. How stupid. She had walked right into that. Ugh. Typical Hyuuga back to his charming self.

"I.."She swallowed. Her pride was quite difficult to chew, much less to digest but she didn't have a choice. He didn't give her one. She wasn't going to disrespect the dead, damn him. The bitter aftertaste it left in her mouth didn't help. "I didn't mean to be insensitive" She started.

"Yes you did. You thought I meant them for you. It was a simple mistake" Neji smiled. It wasn't a nasty smile like she'd thought it was. In fact it was a handsome smile, the kind of smile someone makes when someone they care about walks into the room. He smiled that smile, something she'd rarely seen on his face before. It irritated her.

Ino felt herself boiling, she was so angry she could just explode. How _dare_ he mock her like this? And then put her into a situation where she was forced to make amends? After all that she had done for him. OOOooooohh.

"But if you want to come and contribute your own, I'd like the company" He finished smoothly.

Ino blinked. Had he really just said...she sighed. "You are purposefully trying to make me angry" She accused eyes narrowing.

"I figured it was only fair. You've got me all figured out, and now it's my turn." Neji replied with a smug smile.

Ino raked a hand through her bangs. "Look, Neji, just because I've walked through your mind and seen...the "real" you, doesn't mean that you can just waltz into my flower shop unexpected after two weeks of not talking, and-"

"And ask you to visit the dead bodies of old friends we both loved?" Neji asked her, with his eyebrow risen.

Ino could've strangled him. He was suckering her into going with him. And it was working. "If I go with you, will you leave me alone?" Ino asked.

"After this visit I won't bother you again" Neji replied.

Ino took off her apron, grabbing miscellanious flowers as she made her way to get her coat. She slipped her coat on, pulling her ponytail out of the jacket to stream like golden silk down her back. She used a hairtie to bind the flowers together.

"For a last minute bouquet that's pretty good." Neji told her, with a smile.

Ino rolled her eyes "Let's get this over with."

* * *

Neji led the way into the cemetary. Ino followed, a few feet behind. Neji set the flowers down on the grave, bowing his head. Ino set hers on the grave next to it, murmuring her own prayers for the dead.

"You know I never got to say goodbye to them. Team Gai was split apart after I made Anbu. But we had agreed to collaborate on this assignment. I was late from a mission and didn't get to see them off." Neji told her.

Ino sighed. "Why are you telling me this, Neji?" She asked him.

"Because you needed someone to talk to about Shikamaru's death and I do too. Too good to return the favor, now, Yamanaka?"

"I don't want to be here." Ino said, meeting his gaze with her own angry steel glinted look.

"Why?" Neji asked, surprised by her admonition.

"Because I'm the reason they're dead, Neji! Gods how could you be so insensitive! It's my fault they're dead. It's my fault Shikamaru is dead. Gah." She sniffled, trying to fight her tears.

"It's not your fault." Neji told her wrapping his arms around her. Ino fought his hold "Let go of me" She protested.

"No, it's not your fault" Neji told her, refusing to let go.

"Shut up!" Ino snarled.

"It's not your fault" Neji repeated. Ino felt the tears streaming down her cheeks and she scrubbed at her face furiously with her palms. Ugh this was not what she wanted to do, why she'd avoided this place, avoided him.

"Why do you want to take the blame, Ino?" Neji asked her with a frown. "Because it's true." Ino retorted.

"It's not true. Stop saying that. Stop thinking that about yourself, Ino" Neji told her, tone rising. He was angry.

Ino's eyes narrowed. "If I hadn't saved those children, they would still be here." Ino pointed to the grave.

"and You think I would blame you for that? You think I could possibly hold that against you? You saved innocent lives, Ino. We're ninja. We're supposed to be saving lives by taking them. Making difference even if it means sacrifice. You were a part of something, a situation you couldn't possibly control. How could you think that of yourself? think that of me?" He asked, pearlescent eyes penetrating her own.

Ino couldn't fight the tears, though she tried. "I told you I didn't want to talk about this. I didn't want to be here. I didn't want to come with you." Ino sniffled. Neji's arms wrapped more securely around her.

"I miss them." He murmured. "But I don't blame you for that. The blame falls entirely on Sasuke." Neji's eyes darkened at the name.

"I let the him win." Ino sniffled. "I let him walk away scott free just like Forehead did the first time." Ino said. "I let him slip through my fingers. Let him hurt me again, even though he's already done so much to me, to the people I love." Ino murmured, tears streaming freely down her cheeks. '

"Stop blaming yourself." Neji told her, lifting her chin up. "Stop abusing yourself. Your choices, good or bad have led you here."

"And where am I?" Ino demanded, glaring.

"With me." Neji replied, pulling her close. Ino's eyes widened, and she tensed as he drew nearer.

"I want to kiss you, Ino." Neji told her. "But I'm not going to do it, if you don't give me permission." Neji told her.

Ino's eyes closed, and she tried to push away. "You don't understand..." Ino told him.

Neji had to quelm his frustration. "Then make me understand it, stop holding it over my head." He told her.

"It's stockhold syndrome _okay_?" Ino shouted, finally having it up to here with it all. She couldn't lie to him anymore and she was tired of dealing with it, with him. Every time he looked at her she felt guilty.

"What?" Neji asked, wondering if he'd heard her correctly.

"When you are a captive of someone long enough, you develop sympathy, empathy for them. Sometimes even romantic feelings, Neji. What you're experiencing is nothing less than this." Ino told him.

"Excuse me?" He asked, startled.

"You aren't the first. You won't be the last. Whenever I'm in someones mind for an extended period of time their mind becomes captive to mine, alright?"

"I don't understand" He said, pausing as he looked at her with confusion.

"It's one of the reasons I took off right after this. Its the reason I've been staying in the flower shop all day. This isn't the first time someone has... pursued me after an encounter." Ino replied bitterly. Her dark words and even darker looks made Neji wonder just exactly what she meant by pursued, and who.

"How-how is that possible?" Neji asked her, mind racing to catch up with what she was saying.

"It doesn't matter, Neji. If you want specifics go see Shiho in research about it and she'll tell you the same thing. What matters is that this is what it is. The feelings you're having for me aren't real though chemically it probably feels so. I spent extended time in your mind so you're probably experiencing it in a heightened way, but it's not real." Ino told him.

"Ino..." Neji said, pausing, searching for the words.

"So Just...leave me alone, okay? I'm not going to tell anyone what happened and we can pretend this whole thing never happened and put it behind us." Ino told him, putting her hands in her jacket. She couldn't even meet him in the eye.

"Are you _that_ embarrassed about it?" Neji asked her, tone a bit too sharp.

"Aren't you? You came onto me several times in your mind and I don't know what the hell to do with that. It was awkward and in some cases quite forceful" Ino retorted.

"Then don't" Neji told her.

"Don't what, Neji? Pretend that you didn't nearly molest me?" Ino snapped.

"Don't do anything with those memories. Keep them." Neji said simply.

"I don't want them, Neji. I don't want you or this. I never I can't just erase them...they replay over and over-" Ino realized what she said and stopped mid sentence.

"Again with the lies, the hiding. Why did you let me kiss you back in the forest if that's true? why did you come to me in the first place about Shikamaru's death? Why did you hold my hand at the funeral? For that matter, Why did you help me at all? You could have let me die, you could have been with Sasuke your true love. You could have brought your entire team back from the dead. You're telling me you don't care and that you don't want me, but everything you did and everything you're telling me contradicts each other, Ino." Neji told her, pearlescent eyes reflecting the hurt there. "I'm just trying to understand you"

"There's nothing to understand Neji. It's a simple matter of chemistry. Your endorphins reacted when I entered, they spiked. You're experiencing a chemical imbalance, an addiction to the feeling of my chakra because our minds were aligned. You're feeling the effects of it, is all." Ino told him.

"So this thing between us is merely...a chemical reaction?" Neji asked her.

"Aah" Ino replied.

"So why won't you look me in the eye?" Neji asked her.

Ino flinched. "Because I don't want to."

"What are you afraid of, Ino?" Neji asked her, finally recognizing it for what it was. Her front, her completely logical wall that she'd built and fortified between them was simply fear.

"YOU!" She snapped. "Can't you see that I'm doing my best to keep you away from me? I'm nothing but trouble and you would be better to stay the hell away from me!" She cried.

"I'll be the one to determine that." Neji replied firmly.

"I can't let you throw yourself away like this, Neji" Ino told him.

"Stop fighting me. I'm not throwing myself away on you. Gods Ino stop fighting yourself. You feel it the same as I do, whether it's a chemical reaction or fate itself. I don't care. I'm intrigued by you and nothing you can say is going to change that, in fact it might encourage me. I've always like a challenge."

Ino twitched.

"Don't be afraid. Have a little faith in me, Ino. I'm not going to vanish on you. I'm also not going to molest you. I'd never willingly hurt you, or disrespect you like that. And I think I'm resilient enough to make it in a life like yours." Neji told her.

"And just so we're clear, I had these feelings for you before you ever set foot in my mind. So if I'm feeling more "emotionally heightened" then I only have you to thank for inspiring those feelings, and developing them further. I always thought you were what everyone else said of you. A girl who only toyed with people, emotionally distant and detached a flirt, a tease. Shallow, weak, manipulative" Neji told her.

"But you cry, you bleed, the same as the rest of us." Neji said kindly, smiling softly. "It's...refreshing to find that in a woman I thought was made of ice and stone."

"And you have a fierce desire to protect people, people smaller than you, weaker than you. You are fiercely protective of the people you love. I discovered you don't want to use people and try to avoid it because of who you used to be. You're determined to succeed even when the odds are stacked against you. You're compassionate and though you're unsure, you really do comfort hurting people. You're smart and capable, you think on your feet and your quick to react which is good even if it's not always the right move. Your left hook is more powerful than your right hook. You can't stand defeat, and you're stubborn to a fault." He told her.

Ino eyed him skeptically.

"It's like we were a match made from the start." He told her with a grin.

Ino closed her eyes and took a deep breathe. "There's nothing I can do to convince you to abandon this, is there?" Ino asked him, eying him with sardonic blue eyes.

"Nothing comes to mind." Neji told her laughter in his eyes. His smile was warm. He was warm. He still had the worst jokes. She sighed shaking her head. Well she'd put up a fight at least. This was going to cause nothing but trouble...

_Mendokusai _she thought with a grin.

"The bitter irony of my life, I find myself the victim of a stalker prodigy, genius, clan member." Ino said with a wry smile.

"Guess you'll have to get used to having me around" He told her, pulling her close. She trembled. "Trust me...I'm going to stick around" He told her whispering it in her ear. "Can I kiss you now?"

Ino didn't have the strength to tell him. So she nodded, cheeks flaming as he pressed his lips to hers, sealing his fate and her own.


	11. Chapter 11

AN: Somebody asked for a happy ending. I figured it was within my power to do so. I really don't know why weddings have been the theme of my last couple of fics, but I guess they're here to stay (sort of) and so yeah I'm rolling with it. Finally, I've come to realize how freaking epic Maito Gai is and thus, this simply had to happen. Therefore, I give you the last chapter and happy ending of sorts with Ino and Neji for down the rabbit hole.

Maito Gai's face was bright, gleaming even and teary eyed. His tan face held his red cheeks, as he eyed his former student and his newest intended to be with glowing pride...literally he was beaming and it was starting to hurt Ino's eyes. It didn't help that his teeth were blaringly white, adding to the problem, and Ino could've sworn she heard some sort of a ping sound whenever he exposed those pearly whites, though she might be insane. Gai grinned, beaming that million watt smile, with the annoying ping, that grin stretching across his face as streaming tears streaked down his crimson cheeks in his passionate emotional response to their most happy and joyous news.

"My beloved student has finally discovered the flower of his youth!" He proclaimed to the world on one bended knee his other hand raised up to the sky. Ino choked trying to stiffle her laughter as Neji turned red with embarrassment at the naïve wording of his former sensei.

"And now they will discover the power of their youth and make passionate flames that will burn like the fire of the sun, brightly and shine more fiercely than the Konoha stars!" Gai blubbered, though he still had enough semblancy about him to remember his good guy pose, ping resounding again as his thumbs pointed up, as he rose.

Neji was smirking whispering an "I told you so" Whilst Ino held her head in her hands, shaking her head at the raucous display of affection that Konoha's sublime green beast of prey, was professing. Gods people had to hear him from across town. Embarrased, but trying to do the best she had with what little social grace and standing she had left, Ino forced a smile, as Neji put his arm around her, bringing her next to him.

Gai brought them both in a bone crushing hug, Ino protesting and flailing helplessly in the air stealing hug, whilst Neji, used to the treatment of the affectionate albeit awkwardly dressed sensei of his, did nothing.

"If you don't fight it, he'll let go eventually" He said, to his flailing wife to be as Gai cried quite loudly and vehemently, spouting more of his ridiculous nonsense at obnoxious length.

Ino gasped sucking in the air she so desperately needed, as the man finally released them, and she stumbled back on her heels. She couldn't believe she'd actually gotten dressed up for this nonsense. She shot a glare to her intended, who merely smiled and winked from behind his former sensei's back.

"Oh happiness! The burning youth of my former student and the beautiful and deadly flower of youth, the successor of the Yamanaka clan!" Gai praised, nearly singing.

Ino was briefly amused by the idea of Maito Gai in a musical, hideous green jumpsuit and all. Neji bumped into her elbow, coughing discreetly. Ino rolled her eyes. She'd get to it in good freaking time.

"Gai sensei, how have you been?" Neji asked, affection in his voice obvious from anyone who knew Neji beyond the surface level. As much as Neji complained and grumbled about the old man, she could tell he still respected him. Ino had traveled in depth into his mind, for pete sakes, so she would know.

"The flames of my youth have been terribly distinguished since the passing of my precious students." Gai couldn't hold the tears that streamed and Neji hung his head.

Lee and Ten Ten's death had been tragic, both of them dying because of their knowledge of the cure to the cursed seal. Uchiha Sasuke had killed them, and was still at large, an issue that both Neji and Ino planned to put to right after the wedding, which was coming whether they wanted it or not. Ino scowled. She had other business that had brought them here, business Neji had suggested and one Ino would rather gouge her eyes out with a hot poker than admit, and furthermore follow through on....but one that was important to him, and would, more importantly, be important to the man who had only Neji left in his life.

Ino's scowl deepened, as Gai would probably end up being their children's sensei as well as the role of grandfather to her children. Gods he would grow into a fiestier geezer and she and Neji would have to pull him off the roof from flashing the town when he finally did lost his mind. Ino's eye twitched. If even one of her children started spouting about the flames of youth, she'd beat them black and bloody blue until they got it out of their system...Neji nudged her again.

Ino sighed and took a deep zen cleansing breathe. There were worse people her children could follow after, her thoughts circling around the dark Uchiha. Ino resigned herself. There were worse habbits to pick up then those from Maito Gai. He was the stunning epidemy of the classic good guy...albeit awkward, and fashionably retarded, but well intentioned good guy nonetheless. Ino's eye twitched again. Gai was always hanging around Kakashi these days. If her children had those Icha Icha books she'd kill them both, and make it look like an accident...

Neji coughed, prodding her a bit harder this time.

"Ahem.." Ino cleared her throat herself, trying to summon the courage and the resolve to follow through on this. She couldn't believe she was doing this...Ooooh. She closed her eyes.

"Gai-sensei..." She began, opening them as she looked at him from beneath black lashes.

"Yes, oh beloved intended rose of my former students youth" Gai kissed her hand, and Ino felt the horror cling to her at such an unsightly gesture. You couldn't wash something like that off. It would take a cheese grader and a serious helping of jose cuervo to forget this incident. Ino shivvered. This was going to be harder than she thought. She shook her head to clear it, her mane of golden hair settling over her shoulder.

"Gai.." Ino began again. "Um...As you know my father passed away..."

` "A sad day for the ninjas of Konoha. Your Father's undying flame of youth will live on in you and your children, and your children's children-" Gai began, starting to get passionate and loud again.

"Yes, Yes..." Ino interjected peevishly, blood vessel blaring. "What I wanted to ask you..."

"Yes?" He said, black eyes bright as he waited for her response.

Ino looked to Neji who only grinned and motioned back at Gai. Avoiding the eyeroll she felt at Byakugan user, Ino turned back to Gai.

"Well" She started again, pausing. "I have no one to give me away, you see. And since Asuma is dead, and my father too, um....I-er- that is We, were wondering if you would be willing to walk me down the aisle and...possibly give me away..." Ino said, not looking at him.

The subject of her father not being alive was still a sore subject and since there was no possible way to alleviate that situation, with Asuma dead as well, Ino knew Neji's idea was a good one. Though he would owe her the world and all of its entirety for doing this.

She watched as Gai's eyes filled with tears again, and he hung his head, choppy mop bangs falling into his face, his fist clenched, as a choked sob escaped of tears streamed from him, though for a creepy moment Ino could've sworn they were glowing. And suddenly he sprung to life, burning background spurring his passionate flames of youth. It might have been a techno show for all of his flashy light.

"Oh...my...god...I think might have a seizure, Neji, look at him" Ino said trying to look between the spaces of her fingers, but wincing as Gai flared and sparkled and flashed, quite possibly his ultimate good guy background. He began his passionate speech of stepping in as her father, his voice resounding across the area. If people hadn't heard him before, they were_ d__efinitely_ going to hear him now. Ino raked a hand through her bangs. What had she done? Oh the horror of it all...

"Gai?" Ino said, trying to get his attention. The man was too lost in his justice speech to reply.

"Ahem...Gai sensei? ...Gai sensei? Gai? GAI! MAITO GAI!" Ino snarled loosing her patience, and Gai paused briefly in his tirade to consider the honey blonde in front of him.

"There is one stipulation to this." Ino told him, ice blue eyes steeled and unwavering in their intensity.

"Anything oh flower of my former students-" Gai began

"You CANNOT wear the green jump suit. You will be fitted for a tux, and we can find you a green flower or something instead. Oh or the orange leg warmers. Okay?" Ino interrupted, overruling with an accusing finger pointing at the offending article of clothing.

Neji was surprised by this new angle Ino had, but he supposed those were fair stipulations. He didn't want any of their guests being offended by Gai's attire and he certainly didn't want to think of the wedding pictures with his sensei's lack of fashion taste.

"I accept this mission with grattitude, oh petunia of my former students, I will be fitted for a tuxedo to woo the fair maidens of Konoha and to give you away properly as your stand in father. The flames of my youth have been greatly ignited because of this happy occasion. WE WILL CELEBRATE OUR PASSION WITH MY CURRY OF YOUTH!" Gai proclaimed.

Neji paled considerably, but Ino smirking in superior satisfaction, was a step ahead of him.

"Gai sensei, don't you want to tell Kakashi the news?" She began.

Gai stopped and was quite clearly shocked, the confusion on his face apparent by his rather large bushy black eyebrows.

"Well, I just figured you might want to tell him, after all you've finally beaten your eternal rival at something." Ino replied with a smug grin.

Gai was off and bounding down the street shrieking about his greatest defeat of his eternal rival.

"Have I mentioned how much I love you lately?" Neji turned to the beautiful Yamanaka blonde with a grin.

Ino smirked. "Not nearly enough" She purred, milking it for all it was worth.

"About how incredibly smart, and capable you are of bailing your poor fiance out of complicated workings with my former sensei..."

"Go on." Ino smirked, twirling a lock of her blonde hair around her finger.

Neji's eyebrow rose as he shot a challenging look at his fiance.

"Look pal, Maito Gai, the green jumpsuit wearing, bushy brow-ed, black mop haired beast of Konoha is walking _me_ down the aisle AND more than likely going to be the instructor and grandfather to my future children, I'd say some groveling is in order, Bucko." Ino told him, yanking his collar and bringing him close.

"Well when you put it like that" Neji said, with a mischevious grin as he thoroughly kissed his wife to be.

* * *

It was with streaming tears, that Maito Gai witnessed the two share the kiss of fate, sealing their lips with vows and their mouths, joined and walking down the aisle, husband and wife.


End file.
